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Sharing Experience…

Accession to the EU is expected to bring about changes in migratory routes and destinations, as well as societal changes in the future EU member states. How do new migration trends affect the local societies of these countries? How is the integration of migrants possible in societies marked mostly by emigration throughout the 1990ies? Which approaches do governments envisage in the different countries? Are they becoming countries of immigration – what can be expected after May 2004?

This booklet is part of a product of comprehensive research and analysis of migration trends in each of six participating EU accession countries. olume V – Slovakia

The research project has been supported by the European Commission, V DG Employment and Social Affairs, under the European Social Fund budget Migration Trends line “Analysis of and research on the social situation, demography and the family” and has been managed by IOM Vienna. in Selected Applicant Countries

Under the title “Migration Trends in Selected Applicant Countries”, the following volumes are available:

Volume I – Bulgaria: The Social Impact of Seasonal Migration. Volume II – The Czech Republic: The Times They Are A-Changin. Volume III – Poland: Dilemmas of a Sending and Receiving Country.

Volume IV – Romania: More ‘Out’ than ‘In’ at the Crossroads between Migration Trends Europe and the Balkans. Volume V – Slovakia: An Acceleration of Challenges for Society. Volume VI – Slovenia: The perspective of a Country on the ‘Schengen Periphery’. Volume V – Slovakia The reader may expect comprehensive information on the situation of migrants both, in and out of the countries, and the countries’ migration An Acceleration of Challenges for Society management approaches, with the main purpose to illustrate the impact of migration trends on the local society and the social situation in the country. IOM European Commission Project:

“Sharing Experience: Migration Trends in Selected Applicant Countries and Lessons Learned from the ‘New Countries of Immigration‘ in the EU and Austria”

VOLUME V – Slovak Republic

An Acceleration of Challenges for Society

By Boris Divinský International Organization for Migration - Bratislava This country report on Migration Trends in the Slovak Republic forms part of a publication series of six volumes, which have evolved under the roof of the European Commission funded project “Sharing Experience: Migration Trends in Selected Applicant Countries and Lessons Learned from the ‘New Countries of Immigration’ in the EU and Austria” managed by the International Organization for Migration Mission with Regional Functions for Central Europe in Vienna, Austria.

Publisher: International Organization for Migration Project co-ordinator: Pier Rossi-Longhi Scientific co-ordinator: Martin Kunze

IOM is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. As an intergovernmental body, IOM acts with its partners in the international community to: assist in meeting the operational challenges of migration; advance understanding of migration issues; encourage social and economic development through migration; and uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants.

International Organization for Migration Nibelungengasse 13/4 1010 Vienna Austria Tel.: +43-1-5853322-0 Fax: +43-1-5853322-30 Email: [email protected] Internet: http://www.iomvienna.at

Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Organization for Migration or of the European Commission.

ISBN 92-9068-185-3 © 2004 International Organization for Migration III PREFACE

Migration to the EU Migration to the European Union continues to be a disputed issue throughout Europe. Starting in the 1960s it began with the recruitment of migrant workers by some Western European countries and through family reunification in the 1970s, the process then continued with most Western European countries successively becoming countries of immigration. This has not necessarily been an intended process, but has become a fact in the better-off countries of the EU. New EU members in the north and in the south have seen their immigration figures rise after accession, partly as a result of related increased economic growth. Countries like Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy or Greece – all situated on the EU periphery, where emigration had previously prevailed – had to adapt quickly to the new situation in the course of the 1990s. In terms of policy, the process suffered from a lack of experience, so the management of the flows was often not ideal and local societies were taken by surprise to a certain degree. The surge in immigration has mainly been fed by people seeking protection from the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and by the fall of the iron curtain, which has allowed citizens of Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) to move. They made use of this possibility in direction of the prospering EU. Policy developments, notably linked to freedom of movement and to irregular migration, have carefully been described and analysed in two previous publications jointly produced by IOM and ICMPD: “Migration in Central and Eastern Europe. 1999 Review” and “New Challenges for Migration Policy in Central and Eastern Europe”. With the accession of 10 new member states to the EU in May 2004 (and two more in 2007), these countries are likely to follow the path of the previous EU accession countries and, in turn, become countries of immigration. With increased global mobility and a growing number of severe conflicts and wars, people seeking shelter from Africa and Asia have become a growing source of migrants in recent years. Their paths of migration are directed to the EU and often lead through the accession countries. In this process, in spite of fortified border protection and the “safe third countries” rule, which has become a standard in the states of the EU, accession countries are increasingly becoming target countries of migration. For their societies, this means a rapid change from countries almost without migration via strong emigration to more immigration in the future. This scenario requires preparation and careful planning. On the other hand and on the background of demographic trends, this may be a rather desirable change. According to projections of the EC, the population of all accession countries in Central and Eastern Europe has a tendency to decrease, a fact likely to pose significant problems to economy and society in the future. Compared to Western European countries, where the established migration chains will soften the population losses for a longer period, the future eastern border countries of the EU will increasingly face this problem no later than 2010. In relation to this, one very important characteristic of globalisation, that is especially relevant when talking about migration, is that causes and effects can happen in completely different parts of the world. This simple fact is even more significant if one comes to think that the interdependency of migration to social economic or political IV factors is extremely high. The globalisation of economy and politics, the continuos merging of cultural factors and the shortening of distances by the availability of quick and cheap transportation, makes regular migration always hard to isolate as a regional phenomenon or to control by national means. We have come to understand that Migration has its own internal dynamics. These particular dynamics – sensitive of course to external factors –can be maybe best compared with what liberals would describe as a marketplace. A place, where reality is the clash product of a demand and an offer, and where intervention can only be done with observance to these mechanisms. Arbitrary intervention can and does usually lead to unwanted results.

Before we attempt to develop this concept, let us enumerate briefly three more assumptions that are relevant for these internal dynamics, when discussing the marketplace approach: 1. First of all, the quantitative (as opposed to qualitative) degree of migratory movements always depends on the extent to which restrictive actions have hindered the migration process previously. Recent history of the continent has illustrated significantly enough this statement and comparing 1980 and 1990 statistics gives you a clear picture. 2. Very much related to the above assumption, one could safely talk about fluctuating cycles in migration, with ascending lines, peaks and regressions. In Europe, most of the Candidate Countries have passed their peaks in producing migration in the mid-90s. 3. Migration, especially the one motivated economically, is more sensitive to pull than to push factors. This assumption is very much relevant in Europe today, and it radically contradicts whoever states that the European Union has little to offer to migrants. The fact is that there are jobs available in the Union today, particularly in certain areas of the labour market. Migrants will satisfy this demand within or outside a regulated framework. Further it might very well be that legislators and policy maker who want to intervene in a certain manner on this marketplace would only be able to succeed by working precisely at these pull-factors. The way some countries do it – maybe the most relevant are the US and Canada – proving that they have understood this reality by attracting qualified migrants from all over the world, becoming preferred destinations even for people who are not that dependent on push factors in their own countries. And the moment is not far when competition between European and non-European destinations for qualified migrants may have a much more decisive impact on trends then the aforementioned demographic changes. Having taken into account these assumptions and coming back to the migration marketplace, maybe the first corollary of this analogy is the fact that as long as migration happens – with no regard to the policy of the state – it is proof enough that migrants are actually needed. As long as the movements are driven by labour related issues, the interior dynamics of migration, as said earlier, will always take precedence, no matter if the destination state will restrict it or not. The difference is only in the degree of legality within which the economic activities of the migrants (usually labour) will happen. In Europe this is both true in the member states of the EU and will be progressively more and more true in the Candidate Countries as they approach accession. As we shift towards the particular European dimension of the marketplace analogy, one would say that state intervention has to be always in agreement with the intrinsic state of the determinant factors at the moment of intervention, and should ideally be justified by an unusual imbalance of the migratory “market”. That means that when a state designs its policy on migration or other way to control migratory movements such V intervention has to be in line with current migration realities and deal with them from within. But let us develop this. It is far from our intention to say that because of such a marketplace approach the best way to go around migration is an absolute laissez-faire, and it is also far from our intention to say that the Candidate Countries or the European Union should open their borders to whatever waves of migrants might want to enter. Like on every marketplace in our complex times, intervention might not only be legitimate and necessary but it usually is to the overall benefice. The only care to be taken when designing state intervention is that it should be in tune with the dynamics of the phenomenon, observing migration also in the context of supply and demand. And in this sense, keeping always with the market concept, let us not un-wantingly increase illegal employment nor unnecessarily expand the market share for traffickers and smugglers. Because to forget that most markets, have a black-market, may hinder the overall result that we were aiming for in the first place. The new European common policy proposal on immigration seems to have incorporated such interventions particularly by refining its employment strategy, but also by reviewing the impact of an ageing population on security and pensions and by making training more responsive to the market needs. A communication on illegal immigration has also been released, and the Candidate Countries will have to align themselves to this common policy probably before accession. However if one looks at the entire accession negotiations in the field of Migration, the two most striking common features in all these countries seem to be: 1. Sometimes technical negotiations for accession were underestimated in favour of the political negotiations and 2. Migration realities were too rarely regarded in perspective. First, on the technical question. Beyond the status of a formal condition for enlargement (as defined in 1993 at the European Council in Copenhagen), technical criteria are of the utmost importance for the union, but especially for the country in question. No doubt that political negotiations are important and more than that, commitment to democratic values backed up by political commitment to the enlargement process are crucial factors. But it would be a mistake to underestimate the role of technical capacity. On the long term, political-only driven efforts will prove to be counterproductive, while technical efforts, resulting in a better infrastructure tailored to cope with European challenges will prove its benefices in facing very close future situations. Higher flexibility in implementing European legislation, higher efficiency in providing security to individuals, higher response of the administrative structures to fast changes, managing migration and other challenges and not least a better understanding – at all government levels – of the way the different states in the European Union work for a common interest are just some few arguments for the technical side of negotiations for enlargement. But in the end we face political and technical interdependency anyway: Accession may be a priority political objective, but migration management should not be too far behind, not least because it is the one topic in todayęs Europe that the electorate does not seem to be ignoring. In what regards the second common feature, the lack of perspective in approaching migration, the most common illustration of it is a state that would not diligently try to cope with the Acquis in the area of migration for the apparent (and obvious) reason that there were not too many migration challenges in that particular state. In a time magnified frame, that statement is true. Most of the candidate countries are not (yet) particular destinations for migrants (especially economic migrants), and when such phenomenon occurs it is typically insignificant and anyway just a “pit-stop”, a transit period in the migrant’s route towards the final destination (with the exception of the Czech Republic, where the percentage of VI foreigners has already reached 2%). But upon accession this state of fact will change radically: as part of the Union the candidate countries will find themselves becoming very attractive for migrants over night, and not by accident: the membership in the Union’s political processes will make these countries safer, the flow of capital and the development of the economic markets will increase the demand for labour and finally, the social welfare system will probably become more friendly. All these changes will drive migration flows towards these countries, and this is the perspective that legislators and administrations have to keep in mind when designing their migration policy and when aligning themselves to the Migration Acquis. Moreover, adopting the Acquis alone, by a simple legislative process will never be enough, without the building of administrative capacity to enforce the EU framework legislation and to react in symphony to the challenges of the Union the process will be far from effective. What we all have to understand is that membership in the Union brings along a lot of advantages, in terms of strengthening the economy, consolidating democratic processes and providing for safety and security. But these advantages come along with huge responsibilities, because the way one single state deals with certain challenges – such as migration – is not only relevant for that state alone but for the whole union. And if the capacity of that state to face such challenges is lacking then there are high chances that completed enlargement may turn into weighty political embarrassment when the same state finds itself in the impossibility to strive for the values of the Union in undeniably visible situations. Migration in the Candidate Countries is on its way to change in quantitative and qualitative presence, and these changes – in the good practice of globalisation trends – are both causes and effects of so many and complex other processes, of which the enlargement of the European Union is certainly the most revolutionary. In this context migration policies have to be carefully designed to lead eventually to migrants’ economic and cultural integration in an extended area of freedom security and justice. An area which must consistently strive to balance rights and responsibilities of migrants. A balance that can only function when legal transposition is matched with both administrative and enforcement capacity. It is therefore high time to prepare the process, which must go beyond legislation and technical co-operation. Alongside emigration and established temporary migration to the west, the societies in the accession states have to be prepared for a new challenge to their cohesion: foreigners in their cities, often right in their neighbourhood, maybe competing for their jobs. Let us avoid emergency management and rather, in a timely fashion, strive for long term orderly migration supported by functional integration measures in tune with the host societies.

Research Methodology What began as a classical multiple country case study, later developed in a comparative study with the aim of creating a certain typology distinguishing between those countries where there is immigration and those countries where there is emigration. What also emerged was the need to distinguish between countries where permanent emigration is prevailed upon by circulatory emigration. Additionally a great deal of attention needed to be paid to the phenomena of transit immigration, temporary immigration and permanent settlement immigration. Some countries used to regard their emigrants to the EU only as a source of remittances. In the 90s this pattern changed and now the same emigrants are looked at as the ones who can potentially build transnational VII connectivity. The question of whether this trend is also spilling over to the accession countries was a further element which needed to be assessed. What also needed appropriate attention is the issue of nationality and naturalization. Where usually nationality has been closely related to ethnic background, the new realities may create revised views and policies on this matter. With more and more people wanting to be naturalized, it is clear that the relevant laws and policies, when less than adequate, will bear the strain. This point has also been analyzed.

In fact this booklet is part of a product of comprehensive research and analysis of migration trends in each of six participating EU accession countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria. The research project has been supported by the European Commission, DG Employment and Social Affairs, under the European Social Fund budget line “Analysis of and research on the social situation, demography and the family” and was managed by IOM Vienna.

Under the title “Migration Trends in Selected EU Applicant Countries”, the following volumes are available: Volume I – Bulgaria. The Social Impact of Seasonal Migration. Volume II – The Czech Republic. The Times They Are A-Changin. Volume III – Poland. Dilemmas of a Sending and Receiving Country. Volume IV – Romania. More ‘Out’ than ‘In’ at the Crossroads between Europe and the Balkans. Volume V – Slovakia. An Acceleration of Challenges for Society. Volume VI – Slovenia. The perspective of a Country on the ‘Schengen Periphery’.

Within the project, applied research enhancing the EU knowledge basis on migration in candidate countries to the Union has been sought. Although building on the acquired knowledge, it is no continuation of the previous IOM / ICMPD research, but is inscribed in a different logic. The particular interest here was to find out more about the effects of migration on the countries’ societies. For this purpose, a mixed methodology was conceived, taking into account the different levels of migration research in the participating countries. It has been applied and can be found in each of the six country reports as well as in the overview. The research was developed with an attempt to align the research process as far as possible. This field of research being new for the participating countries, two major disadvantages had to be faced: little research and a low number of researchers to draw upon as well as scarce data availability. However statistics and literature was found to be better in those countries which have already experienced in-migration to a certain degree (the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia, to a lesser degree also Slovakia), whereas Bulgaria and Romania were still greatly lacking both research and statistical apprehension of the phenomenon. As a consequence, the methodology has been elaborated in three steps, which accompanied the entire research process: Literature analysis, interviews and recommendations. In fact data has systematically been completed by interviews with officials, experts, and migrants themselves or their associations, depending on the gaps VIII in literature and statistics. Collaboration of the researchers with the respective IOM country missions has facilitated this process. For each of the countries, the interviews form the added value of the reports. Hitherto undocumented aspects of migration phenomena in the accession countries become perceivable for the first time, and besides, analysed in a systematic manner. The research is made pertinent by analysis weighing the information against credibility and by the elaboration of conclusions to each chapter of the research. Recommendations to different stakeholders are formulated at the end of the text for optimal usability. Through its form and result, the project “Sharing Experience: Migration Trends in Selected Applicant Countries and Lessons Learned from the ‘New Countries of Immigration‘ in the EU and Austria” hopes to contribute to EU migration research and policy at the time of the expansion in May 2004 and beyond. The reader may expect comprehensive information on the situation of migrants both, in and out of the countries, and the countries’ migration management approaches, with the main purpose to illustrate the impact of migration trends on the local society and the social situation in the country.

International Organization for Migration Vienna, Autumn 2003 1 Acknowledgements

In this place I would like to thank especially Ms. L. Bohušová and Mr. J. Kormuth from the Migration Office, Mr. P. Vlkovič and his staff from the Office of Border and Alien Police, Mr. I. Schlosser from the National Unit of Combating Illegal Migration, Mr. V. Urban from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ms. J. Repková from the National Labour Office for their assistance in orienting in particular issues, valuable data and statistics. I am also grateful to Ms. Z. Brucháčová from the Ministry of Interior, Mr. M. Danihel from the Research Institute of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, Ms. D. Jurčová from INFOSTAT, Mr. M. Žirko and Ms. D. Oslejová from the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic for contributional documents and statistics on topics of special interest. I express high appreciation to the staff of UNHCR-Slovakia, Mr. N. Jalili from the Afghani Association in Slovakia and representatives of the NGOs Björnson Society in Slovakia, Goodwill People Society, Slovak Helsinki Committee and Slovak Humanitarian Council for supplying prompt and professional information and opinions. Special thanks belong to Mr. O. Sokolovič for his assistance in conducting in-depth interviews with Roma returnees at the International Organisation for Migration- -Bratislava Field Office in Košice. I also wish to sincerely thank the interviewees for finding time and providing considered responses to all questions within the in-depth interviews. Last, but not least I owe profound gratitude to Ms. E. Pauditšová, Ms. L. Irová and Mr. M. Chovanec for technical collaboration in the final version of the report and to my family for enormous patience during the period of the research.

Boris Divinský, Bratislava, autumn 2003 2 Contents:

Preface ...... III Acknowledgements ...... 1 Contents ...... 2 Executive Summary ...... 4 1. Introduction ...... 7 1.1 Introductory remarks ...... 7 1.2 Historical overview of migration in Slovakia ...... 8 1.2.1 Migration in Slovakia before WW2 in brief ...... 8 1.2.2 Migration development after WW2 ...... 9 2. Overall Migration Scales ...... 15 2.1 Migrants with permanent residence in Slovakia ...... 15 2.2 Undocumented migration ...... 18 2.3 Tourism ...... 22 2.4 Foreigners in the territory of the country ...... 23 2.5 Asylum seekers, refugees ...... 24 3. Factors contributing to migration movements ...... 29 3.1 Push and pull factors ...... 29 3.2 The role of family and other informal links ...... 32 3.3 Ethnic migration ...... 33 3.3.1 Ethnic immigration ...... 33 3.3.2 Ethnic emigration ...... 34 3.4 Labour market in the Slovak Republic for foreigners ...... 36 3.5 Attractiveness of the asylum system in Slovakia for migrants ...... 39 3.6 Trafficking and smuggling of migrants ...... 41 4. Impact of migration movements on the subject society ...... 44 4.1 Economic dimensions of migration to and from Slovakia ...... 44 4.1.1 In-migration ...... 44 4.1.2 Out-migration ...... 47 4.1.3 Migration potential from the Slovak Republic ...... 51 4.2 Non-economic effects of migration ...... 56 4.2.1 Demographic impacts of immigration ...... 56 4.2.2 Educational system and migrants ...... 56 4.2.3 Health of migrants to Slovakia ...... 57 4.2.4 Socio-pathological phenomena among the non-natives ...... 59 4.2.5 Impacts of migrants on the level of criminality ...... 60 4.2.6 Cultural contribution of migrants to Slovak society ...... 62 4.3 Perception, discrimination, xenophobia, public opinion in Slovak society in relation to migrants ...... 63 3

5. Migration policy, legislation and procedures ...... 70 5.1 Admission to the country ...... 70 5.2 Stay in the country ...... 72 5.2.1 Foreign Slovaks ...... 75 5.2.2 Acquisition of Slovak citizenship ...... 77 5.2.3 Reunification of families ...... 79 5.2.4 Marriages of convenience ...... 80 5.3 Return, detention and expulsion of migrants ...... 80 5.3.1 Detention of migrants ...... 80 5.3.2 Expulsion and readmission ...... 81 5.3.3 Voluntary returns ...... 83 5.4 Other area matters ...... 85 5.4.1 Asylum matters ...... 85 5.4.2 Migration policy of Slovakia ...... 87 5.5. Conclusion ...... 88 6. Integration policies and practices ...... 90 6.1 Particular geographic concentration of migrants ...... 90 6.2 Legal framework for integration ...... 91 6.3 Activities of non-governmental organisations in short ...... 92 6.4 Integration in practice ...... 93 6.4.1 Asylum seekers ...... 93 a) Information level ...... 93 b) Health care and social services ...... 93 c) Education ...... 94 d) Employment ...... 94 e) Cultural, recreational and sport activities ...... 94 6.4.2 Refugees ...... 94 6.4.3 Evaluation of integration policies and practice ...... 95 6.5 Freedom of religion ...... 96 6.6 Participation of migrants in civic and political life ...... 96 6.7 Best practices in the treatment of migrants ...... 97 7. Conclusion and recommendations ...... 99 7.1 Concluding remarks ...... 99 7.2 Brief summary ...... 100 7.3 Recommendations ...... 107 Bibliography ...... 111 Appendix 1: The list of subjects within in-depth interviews made in Slovak Republic ...... 118 Appendix 2: Map and graphs ...... 119 4 Executive Summary

The research project presented here deals with migration issues of six countries in Central and Eastern Europe, including the Slovak Republic. During the past 2-3 years especially, Slovakia has been undergoing a significant transformation in this area and a multitude of questions related to this change are evidently coming to the foreground. The country has still several attributes typical of a transit country in respect of immigration, though even some signs suggest that it could soon become a favourable target country for migrants. Moreover, sudden inflows of legal and irregular migrants in the very last years have been manifested to an unexpected extent carrying a great acceleration of challenges with it. These concern not only the numbers of migrants proper, but are reflected essentially in the phenomena, processes, mechanisms and trends accompanying migration per se and influencing the life of autochthonous Slovak society in legal, economic, social, cultural, political, demographic, and other dimensions. In the report on Slovakia, following the introductory remarks, firstly a historical overview of migration in the country is outlined as a basis for the next evaluation. Within it, emigration from Slovakia before WW2 is briefly described with its main stages, destination countries, and estimated numbers of migrants. Migration development in the country after WW2 is discussed more in detail. The migration shifts and their reasons in Slovakia soon after the war are illustrated, then developments under 40 years of communism are analysed. The exchange of persons with foreign countries in this period including illegal emigration with its consequences as well as migration with the Czech Republic as a typical pattern of socio-spatial movements of inhabitants within former Czechoslovakia are here assessed. Furthermore, matters of migrants changing their permanent residence in Slovakia are portrayed. In this context, official data regarding the numbers of those immigrated and emigrated, i.e. the migration balance of Slovakia, are depicted for the past decade, also by countries of origin. It is emphasised that these persons are just those who obtained/lost their permanent residence in the territory of the Slovak Republic and registered themselves, which is not a frequent phenomenon – therefore, this is rather mendacious information. A large part of the report is devoted to undocumented migration. It has evolved very dynamically in the last 10 years, as shown in tables. Not only the absolute numbers of undocumented migrants to Slovakia are given, but also their monthly course in the recent years, irregular migrants through all country’s borders in both directions and the structure of irregular migrants by country of origin. The trafficking and smuggling of migrants are mentioned in the text along with some their chief characteristics. At the end of this section, the crucial problems of undocumented migration to Slovakia are highlighted. Another text passage of the report studies issues referring to aliens (foreigners) living in the territory of the Slovak Republic by the Act on the Stay of Aliens. Particular categories of stays are defined and quantified, and chronological development in the past decade is described. As underlined, the overall number of aliens living in the country (0.55% of the total population) is hitherto rather low comparing to neighbouring countries in the region. 5 An important part of the report is dedicated to asylum seekers and refugees. Not only tabular data on applicants, granted or rejected asylums, and other parameters are indicated here, but also related graphs, the age and gender structures of applicants, and the number of unaccompanied minors from the recent period are provided. The most serious challenges of asylum matters in Slovakia are accentuated, too. A corresponding place in the report is occupied by a summarisation of push and pull factors in migrants as cardinal factors for migration. The in-depth interviews help much in elucidating the motivation of migrants to come or stay in Slovakia. Not only little known facts on ethnic immigration are documented, but primarily those on ethnic emigration from the country – i.e. reasons and consequences of Roma emigration from the country. Subsequently, special attention is paid to the Slovak labour market, the presence of non- natives on it and the economic dimension of migration as a whole. Possibility/impossibility to work in Slovakia by law for various categories of migrants is outlined. Then, a specific regime in this sphere with nationals of the Czech Republic is shortly defined. The numbers of aliens with work permits by dominating countries as well as of foreigners with granted trade licenses are quantified with an estimate of persons being illegally employed in the country. The reader may also be interested in the labour emigration of Slovaks abroad. Here, the fundamental modes of such emigration, main destinations with figures and principal reasons for labour migration are identified. In association with this, the migration potential of Slovak citizens is examined and evaluated. It has been proven that the figures of those wishing to emigrate from Slovakia for work are quite high (1/3 of the population). However, Slovaks do not want to work abroad for a long time, but mostly for a few months or weeks. On the other hand, there is a big difference between to wish, to be able, and to be allowed. Owing to it, the actual migration potential could be 10% of the active population at most, but rather one third of this (some 100,000 economically active persons). Non-economic effects of migration to Slovakia are dealt with in the following passage. Impacts of migrants on demographical development, educational system, public health, criminality in the country and the incidence of socio-pathological phenomena among the migrants are analysed. As supported by facts, no specificities or even negative effects of migrants on the mentioned societal domains have practically been registered up to now. The cultural contribution of migration is indisputably positive, but the preparedness of Slovak society to incorporate foreigners is quite low. Tables on the degree of acceptance of refugees by Slovak natives reveal rare findings in terms of the attitudes of Slovaks to non-Slovaks. As a result, the degree of xenophobia is considerably high in the country and certain forms of the discrimination of aliens exist among the inhabitants of Slovak origin. The basic legal norms pertaining to migration as such are contained in another section in the report. Questions of the migrants’ admission to, stay in, and return and expulsion from the country are illustrated in detail. Within this framework, the status of foreign Slovak is explained, the acquiring of Slovak citizenship described and voluntary returns portrayed. The characterisation of contemporary migration policy in Slovakia with its shortcomings follows.The topic of larger concentrations of migrants in the territory of the Slovak Republic is not omitted either. This concerns not only the spatial concentration 6 of aliens with permitted stay in Slovakia in 2002, but also the distribution of detention, reception and accommodation centres - shown on a map and in a table - for irregular migrants and asylum seekers. In the next part, the legal framework regarding the integration of foreigners into Slovak society is briefly introduced. In this context, activities of the non-governmental sector in the field of integration are briefly outlined as well. After that, more pragmatic aspects of the integration of migrants are presented – starting with the informing of migrants, health care and social services, education, employment, cultural and sport activities, freedom of religion, up to their participation in civic and political life in Slovakia. The positives and negatives of such an integration policy are assessed along with confronted attitudes of state authorities, NGOs and migrants, thus defining the problem areas. Several best practices in the treatment of migrants may be of interest, too. In the conclusion of the report on Slovakia, the most serious research outcomes are summarized, and the need for comprehensive, rapid, effective and rational solutions in the sphere of migration issues is stressed. Within this, recommendations for various fields are proposed and specified. They concern the level of the state budget, the macro-institutional level, state institutions, migration, asylum and integration policies and practices, the legislative level, the area of self-government, the public opinion and attitudes of native inhabitants towards migrants, and finally the level of migrants’ associations. All graphs and the map referred to in the text can be found in the appendix of this volume. 7 1. Introduction

“When you find a way without obstacles in life, it certainly leads nowhere.” N. Clark

1.1 Introductory remarks One may begin with one rather illustrative historical paradox giving a true picture of how difficult it was to predict foreign migration flows to the Slovak Republic in the past period: A characterisation of the situation in 2000 by a Governmental document1: ”The extent of international migration in Slovakia is negligible.”

And now some figures indicating the actual development of foreign migration in the Slovak Republic recently: • the increase in undocumented migrants: 6,062 persons – 15,548 persons – 15,235 persons (years 2000, 2001, and 2002, respectively);2 • the increase in asylum seekers: 1,556 persons – 8,151 persons – 9,743 persons (years 2000, 2001, and 2002, respectively).3 These juxtaposed paragraphs demonstrate very clearly the relativity of any premises or statements in the field of foreign migration in such a dynamic region as Central and Eastern Europe. In addition, an older estimate of the increase of legal migrants by the Migration Office (Migration Office 1996) for the years 1999-2005 may now serve as a curiosity – they supposed around 1,800 migrants (asylum seekers and displaced persons) to come to Slovakia during the entire 7-year period… The above stated facts do not represent a random fluctuation in trends, but apparently a steady growth that will be highly probably manifested following the accession of the Slovak Republic to the European Union in 2004. Migration processes in the country thus generally become a more important factor of development than ever before. The Velvet Revolution and globalisation in the world thus brought a significant change in migration opportunities for Slovak residents on the one hand and for aliens directing their steps to the country on the other. Over a decade, Slovakia has become a country with positive migration balance figures; and when taking into account the rapidly rising numbers of undocumented migrants, asylum seekers or aliens moving to/through the Slovak Republic – even starts to be an immigration country. In this context, it is less significant that most of them are transient migrants hitherto; the social, political, cultural, economic and other consequences of their entering, staying, or departing refer to Slovak society as well as to migrants proper. The issues of foreign migration in Slovakia are of such relevant nature that it is now needed to study, appraise and resolve them in an erudite and correct way; the sooner,

1 Out of the document Negotiation position of the Slovak Republic – Chapter 2: Free movement of persons, approved by the Government Resolution No. 1001 on December 6, 2000 2 Data from the Office of Border and Alien Police of the Ministry of Interior in the Slovak Republic 3 Data provided by the Migration Office of the Ministry of Interior in the Slovak Republic 8 the better. Moreover, so far actually just a little attention has been paid to the phenomenon in the country, or in the international field in view of Slovakia. The current research of IOM provides thus a chance not only to investigate wider and deeper the migration situation in the Slovak Republic, but – maybe principally – to compare it with processes in the neighbouring countries and some European ones, to publish broadly findings and to outline trends as well as measures or recommendations of how to tackle the existing and potential problems. The Slovak Republic is a ”buffer“ country between the Schengen countries and risky regions of the world being a long-term source of immigration to Europe. For the above- mentioned reasons, Slovakia has to identify the contemporary trends, assess the possible future ones and react with appropriate legal regulations to present and presumed development in migration.

According to the approved methodology, the realised research enabled to complete the statistical and other data necessary for the preparation of analyses and evaluations by a set of in-depth interviews performed with various subjects. Their list is given in Appendix 1. Basically, the subjects consist of the three groups: Officials – i.e., representatives of state institutions dealing with migration matters, IGO, embassy, self-government; then Experts – scientists and researchers in different areas involved to a greater or lesser extent in resolving migration issues, journalist, representatives of NGOs; and finally Migrants of various status, origin, duration of stay in the country, including Roma returnees and their political representative. The total number of accomplished interviews reached 30. The interviews were of extremely high contribution, primarily for topics where more detailed or even fundamental information was absent. This situation is not rare in Slovak conditions as for foreign migration; hence information, data or opinions from interviews have helped substantially create a more comprehensive picture of examined questions.

1.2 Historical overview of migration in Slovakia

1.2.1 Migration in Slovakia before WW2 in brief More intensive migration movements – especially emigration - were marked in the territory of contemporary Slovakia during the period of the last 300 years. Emigration was one of the typical demographic and social phenomena in Slovakia’s modern history. It had chiefly a social character, but in many periods evident religious, national, and political ones, too (Škvarna et al. 1997). Emigration from the country acquired a mass form already since the 18th century when great numbers of inhabitants from Slovakia, often persecuted Protestants, colonised the sparsely settled regions of the Hungarian Lower Country after the expulsion of Turks from there (Tibenský et al. 1978). It is estimated that roughly 500 hundred thousand people of Slovak origin lived in today’s Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Croatia at the end of the 19th century (Strhan / Daniel 1994). Historical roots are reflected at present, for example, in considerably high numbers of applicants for the status of foreign Slovak, Slovak citizenship or for granting various kinds of permits to stay in the Slovak Republic from these countries, as will be described below. However, it was the second half of the 19th century that witnessed the largest wave of emigration from Slovakia. Between 1871 and 1914 around 500,000 persons left for the U.S.A. 9 and almost another 350,000 to other regions outside Slovakia (Bašovský / Divinský 1991; cf. Srb 2002). Paradoxically, at that time, the greatest urban concentrations of Slovaks were Budapest, Vienna and big industrial cities in the U.S.A. This emigration was triggered by a relatively high surplus of pauperised farmers in the Slovak countryside and a low number of job opportunities in the country as well as by national political pressure owing to the increasing magyarisation of Slovaks (Tibenský et al. 1978). In the interbellum period, the emigration of Slovaks to the U.S.A. was limited due to restrictions and quotas, therefore also France, Belgium, Canada, Argentina became target countries of Slovaks. During this migration wave about 220,000 residents of Slovakia, in particular farmers and industrial workers, left their motherland. Another 222,000 persons migrated for agricultural seasonal work to Austria, Germany, and France. These between-the-wars migration movements were motivated by economic and social reasons (Bielik / Rákoš 1975). In the course of WW2, some 100,000 Slovak agricultural and industrial workers were employed within various compulsory works in Germany, Austria and the Czech lands (Hanzlík 1974). In general, Slovak emigration before WW2 is conceived by experts more as a negative chapter in national history. Reproductively active population cohorts moved within a longer period from the country thus deforming the population structure, low-skilled emigrants faced hard living conditions abroad and went back to Slovakia to a little extent. However, because of this history, the phenomenon of mass migration is not new or strange in the country, the Slovak Republic and citizens proper may possibly understand its causes and accept its consequences easier.

1.2.2 Migration development after WW2 From the end of the Second World War to the collapse of communism, Slovakia was undergoing variegated patterns of immigration and emigration. The period immediately after the war, i.e. the years 1945-1950, has not been analysed sufficiently from the demographic viewpoint until now, though large population shifts took place in the country within it. The first movements of population concerned the forced migration of certain ethnic groups in the country. The expulsion of the prevailing part of German inhabitants from Slovakia began in 1945. During two years till 1947 it accounted for as many as 176 thousand people (Barnovský et al. 1988). The wild deportation in 1945 affected 10 thousand people, the regular deportation related to 156 thousand people and an additional one in 1947 amounted to approximately 10 thousand people. Likewise, the changes due to re-migration to the country during 1945-1948 were quite relevant. But according to the published data, the number of re-migrants during 1945 and 1946 cannot be divided between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In these years, 54,036 persons came back to Czechoslovakia in total. In the following year (1947), 1,032 persons migrated back only to Slovakia (Vaňo 2001a). The exchange of population with Hungary, which was a consequence of an unsuccessful analogical plan to deport the majority of Hungarians from Slovakia, brought further changes in the number and structure of population in the country. Based on an agreement between the Czechoslovak and Hungarian governments, 89,660 inhabitants of Hungarian origin from Slovakia were expulsed to Hungary and 71,787 persons of Slovak origin were moved from Hungary to Slovakia in the framework of a re-slovakisation action plan. The government authorities tried also to deport a part of 10 the Hungarian minority to the territory of Czech Republic. Within the framework of this evacuation, 44,129 persons were displaced there from November 1946 to February 1947 (originally for one year), however nearly all of them returned to Slovakia by 1949 (ibidem). Then, in 1947, after the annexation of Transcarpathian Ukraine in 1945 and on the basis of an agreement between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, 12,015 persons of the Ruthenian ethnic group left Eastern Slovakia. They opted for a new citizenship and residence in the U.S.S.R., while 5,026 persons of Slovak origin from Ukraine immigrated to Slovakia (Gajdoš 2002; cf. Barnovský et al. 1988). The population movements in Slovakia after WW2 were also remarkably influenced by the migration of 110,254 persons in the context of the post-war colonisation of the Czech borderland. Although a part of settlers returned to Slovakia relatively soon, the major part remained in the Czech Republic. Slovakia thus significantly contributed to the re- settlement of the Czech borderland (Vaňo 2001a). A part of the Slovak Roma started to move to Czech Republic in the framework of this colonisation as well, which was actually the beginning of a more intensive migration of Roma in this direction in later periods. In the summary of the above-mentioned facts, the expulsion of the German minority from Slovakia, the departure of a part of the Ruthenians, the participation of Slovaks in the colonisation of the Czech borderland as well as a negative balance owing to the exchange of population between Slovakia and Hungary resulted in the migration loss of over 300,000 inhabitants of the country in only a few post-war years. The crucial year that substantially affected entire societal development – including out- and in-migration – in Slovakia for the second half of the 20th century was 1948, when the Communist Party took over the power in former Czechoslovakia. The subsequent period of 40 years was marked by breaching the human rights, state paternalism, egalitarianism and ineffective economy. After a few years of limited freedom from 1945 to 1947, in 1948 Slovakia as a part of then Czechoslovakia became a firm component of the communist political bloc, where moving/travelling abroad was rather restricted and movements to the country were limited and observed with suspicion. In relation to this, a sizeable exception was constituted by the years 1968 to 1970 during the Prague Spring. After this event, the regime tightened the possibilities of people to freely move out of or to the country once again. Thus, practically all the period of 1948- 1989 was characterised by the prevailing (then considered illegal) emigration, sometimes even considerably pronounced, of (Slovak) citizens out of the country, mostly for political and economic reasons. The year 1950 – as the year of the first post-war census – represents a good starting point to study the foreign migration concerning Slovakia more in detail. Table 1 presents the numbers of persons emigrated from Slovakia abroad and immigrating to Slovakia from abroad in the era of the communist regime4:

4 Migration between Slovakia and the Czech lands is not included here as this migration was then registered as internal 11 Table 1. Foreign migration balance of Slovakia within the period of the communist regime in 1950–1989 Year Immigration Emigration Migration balance 1950 568 176 392 1951 394158 236 1952 319 80 239 1953 246 57 189 1954 520 320 200 1955 907 653 254 1956 442 312 130 1957 424 305 119 1958 179 244 -65 1959 242 430 -188 1960 199 509 -310 1961 408 326 82 1962 641 429 212 1963 515 413 102 1964 449 955 -506 1965 987 726 261 1966 2,903 635 2,268 1967 2,111 842 1,269 1968 1,037 864 173 1969 856 604 252 1970 871760 111 1971 624 895 -271 1972 835 446 389 1973 907 542 365 1974 1,007 715 292 1975 808 870 -62 1976 833 584 249 1977 1,033 620 413 1978 702 634 68 1979 631 617 14 1980 546 543 3 1981 436 665 -229 1982 407 572 -165 1983 327 633 -306 1984 362 545 -183 1985 314 429 -115 1986 368 554 -186 1987 409 673 -264 1988 414 569 -155 1989 549 575 -26 Source: Vaňo 2001a

As seen in Table 1, foreign migration to and from Slovakia - registered through the change of permanent residence - was of various importance and course until 1990. At the beginning of the 1950s, data on migration were distorted by the fact that only the 12 migration of Czechoslovak citizens was registered in statistics. The foreign citizens were included in the migration statistics only since mid-1954 (Vaňo 2001a). A significant but only temporary break-through in this kind of migration was the period of political relief in 1966-1967. During those years, Slovakia gained approximately 3.5 thousand inhabitants from foreign migration; in a longer period of 1965-1969 it was 4.2 thousand inhabitants in total. As demonstrated in the table, changes in the political situation after August 1968 had impacts also on the migration situation in Slovakia. The gains from foreign migration radically diminished at the end of the 1970s. By 1980 Slovakia almost always recorded a moderate surplus from foreign migration, however during the 1980s migration losses began to be generated and marked the entire decade. Generally, such little figures for foreign migration reflect the fact that the free movement of people, particularly with Western countries but also with the others, did not exist under communism. Hence, described migration was predominantly formed e.g. by the wedlocks with foreigners and the subsequent reunification of families or limited granting permanent residence to them. It has to be accentuated for the reader that Table 1 provides only a partial and not very correct view of foreign migration processes in the past half-century. It does not include statistically non-registered “illegal” emigration from Slovakia after February 1948 and especially after August 1968. This emigration, i.e. direct or indirect escapes from the country through the Iron Curtain grew and persisted until the end of the regime in 1989. De facto, illegal migrants after WW2 constituted the fourth wave of mass migration from Slovakia in its modern history. According to several well-founded estimates of researchers (e.g. Strhan / Daniel 1994; Škvarna et al. 1997; Vaňo 2000), until 1989 some 80-100,000 Slovaks emigrated illegally from the country, which – for instance – made 1,200-1,500 persons a year in the 1980s. Many of these migrants were motivated to the departure from Slovakia abroad by political and ideological reasons (disagreement with communist ideology and practice, political and police pressure, fear of persecution, impossibility of self-fulfilment etc.), but many of them were driven by economic and social reasons, too. There were a number of highly educated and skilled persons at productive age among them, therefore they were usually welcome in the target countries. At those times, the most favourite receiving countries of Slovaks emigrants were Germany, Austria, Switzerland, United Kingdom, France, U.S.A., Canada, Australia and some South American countries (ibidem).

Likewise, an analysis of migration movements between Slovakia and the Czech lands within once a common state, i.e. in the period of 1950-1989 may be very interesting. The cardinal reason to examine such movements is the fact that migration between both - then united - parts represented always an essential component of population evolution in them from WW2 (not only) until the split of Czechoslovakia. But migration between Slovakia and Czech Republic was remarkable not merely from the aspect of mutual influencing population development, but also from the viewpoint of socio-economic development in both territorial units. The elementary quantitative data referring to the migration exchange between the given subjects are shown in Table 2: 13 Table 2. Migration movements between Slovakia and the Czech lands in 1950–1989 Year Immigration Emigration Migration balance 1950 15,246 30,096 -14,850 1951 24,398 36,804 -12,406 1952 19,476 40,072 -20,596 1953 19,009 30,151 -11,142 1954 28,272 26,781 1,491 1955 19,380 24,087 -4,707 1956 15,386 22,626 -7,240 1957 11,865 19,096 -7,231 1958 12,370 19,101 -6,731 1959 12,356 21,251 -8,895 1960 11,098 18,868 -7,770 1961 11,686 17,404 -5,718 1962 11,094 18,085 -6,991 1963 10,196 19,543 -9,347 1964 11,084 18,867 -7,783 1965 10,899 17,937 -7,038 1966 10,926 18,494 -7,568 1967 10,180 17,922 -7,742 1968 9,611 14,589 -4,978 1969 9,903 13,405 -3,502 1970 9,570 14,138 -4,568 1971 8,427 13,245 -4,818 1972 7,550 11,094 -3,544 1973 7,630 10,772 -3,142 1974 7,362 10,365 -3,003 1975 7,083 10,398 -3,315 1976 7,426 10,290 -2,864 1977 6,783 9,339 -2,556 1978 6,468 9,912 -3,444 1979 6,084 9,844 -3,760 1980 6,933 10,065 -3,132 1981 6,066 9,943 -3,877 1982 6,275 9,900 -3,625 1983 5,591 9,595 -4,004 1984 5,631 9,610 -3,979 1985 5,753 8,930 -3,177 1986 5,828 9,906 -4,078 1987 5,549 9,047 -3,498 1988 5,768 9,132 -3,364 1989 5,926 8,671 -2,745 Source: Vaňo 2001a

As is evident from Table 2, the exchange of population between the territories of Slovakia and Czech Republic was the most intensive in the 1950s. Then the figures for both emigration and immigration were the highest. Migration balance was always quite unfavourable for Slovakia; it was losing 10,000 to 20,000 persons per year at the 14 beginning of the 1950s. Gradually, the intensity of emigration as well as immigration between Slovakia and the Czech lands was decreasing and migration balance was diminishing, though it still remained negative for Slovakia. In 1950-1989 thus Slovakia with Czech Republic generated a migration loss to the extent of 230,000 inhabitants net. As regards the nature of this migration, it represented a typical pattern of socio-spatial movements of inhabitants within former Czechoslovakia. Intensive migration movements towards the Czech Republic part during the 1950s and 1960s had characteristic attributes of economic migration (Vaňo 2001a). They were very often associated with the recruitment of workers to mines and steel mills, the constructions of big industrial plants and the like in Czech Republic, so that commuting in many cases changed into permanent emigration from Slovakia. Such Slovak migrants usually found in the Czech lands better labour, social and housing conditions. The population at productive age formed two-thirds to three-quarters of all migrants between both territorial units. Young families with children moved more than other categories. Thus, during the entire observed period, the population aged 20-29 years and children aged 0-10 years and men as a whole dominated migration (ibidem). As a consequence of outlined migration movements, the largest spatial concentrations of Slovaks in the Czech Republic have been the regions of Prague, Ostrava and the Czech borderland. 15 2. Overall migration scales

2.1 Migrants with permanent residence in Slovakia This is a group of persons who are officially registered by the police and local self- government authorities as changing, i.e. gaining or losing their permanent residence - either leaving the territory of the Slovak Republic, or moving into it - during a year; regardless of their citizenship (Migrácia obyvateľstva… 2003). In statistics, unfortunately, the reasons of migration are little observed; rather the numbers to know the migration flows to and from the country – Table 3:

Table 3. Official numbers of the immigrated to and the emigrated from Slovakia in the period of 1990–2002 Year Immigration Emigration Migration balance 1990 8,618 10,940 -2,322 1991 9,076 8,861 215 1992 8,929 11,868 -2,939 1993 9,106 7,355 1,751 1994 4,922 154 4,768 1995 3,055 213 2,842 1996 2,477 222 2,255 1997 2,303 572 1,731 1998 2,052 746 1,306 1999 2,072 618 1,454 2000 2,274 811 1,463 2001 2,023 1,011 1,012 2002 2,312 1,411 901 Source: Vývoj obyvateľstva... 1992-2003

At the beginning of the 1990s, the migration situation in the Slovak Republic started to alter radically (Jurčová 1996a). Existing migration tendencies were broken. The new societal situation introduced important changes in terms of foreign migration. Migration between the Slovak and Czech Republics (now officially deemed to be foreign) was still essential also during the last decade, but not to such a degree. The exchange of persons between the both already separate political-geographical subjects was decreasing. The shares of persons immigrated to Slovakia from other countries than Czech Republic as well as those emigrated from Slovakia to other countries than Czech Republic rose in this period from a few per cents to almost 70% of the total (Vývoj obyvateľstva... 1992-2003 and own calculations), though the absolute numbers fell. As apparent from Table 3 and Graph 1 (see appendix), the overall migration balance of the country in the 1990s was mostly positive. However, this trend could also be influenced by the re-emigration of persons who formally registered their permanent residence in Slovakia because of demand on the restitution of property (Jurčová 1996b), for which permanent residence has been a conditio sine qua non. These above-presented statistics concern only the numbers of persons registered officially. Especially for migration movements to and from the Czech Republic (but not 16 only) in the past years, the data are significantly imprecise. The citizens of Slovakia and also the foreigners with a permanent stay permit, when changing their place of residence towards another country, are obliged by law to inform about this circumstance and de-register (cancel) their permanent stay in Slovakia. But only a lesser part of these persons does so with the respective institutions – the police and local self-government authority (Vývoj obyvateľstva… 2003; cf. UN 2002). Some differences are indicated in Table 4:

Table 4. Foreign migration according to the registered place of residence in the Slovak Republic 1990–2002 Year 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Total foreign migration of the Slovak Republic Immigrants 8,618 9,076 8,929 9,106 4,922 3,055 2,477 2,303 2,052 2,072 2,274 2,023 2,312 Emigrants 10,940 8,861 11,868 7,355 154 213 222 572 746 618 811 1,011 1,411 Balance -2,322 215 -2,939 1,751 4,768 2,842 2,255 1,731 1,306 1,454 1,463 1,012 901 Foreign migration without the Czech Republic Immigrants 944 1,752 2,106 1,874 1,778 1,558 1,484 1,436 1,275 1,216 1,006 1,033 1,563 Emigrants 867 527 128 79 59 105 133 360 495 410 501 613 962 Balance 77 1,225 1,978 1,795 1,719 1,453 1,351 1,076 780 826 505 420 601 Foreign migration only with the Czech Republic Immigrants 7,674 7,324 6,823 7,232 3,144 1,497 993 867 777 856 1,268 990 749 Emigrants 10,073 8,334 11,740 7,276 95 108 89 212 251 208 310 398 449 Balance -2,399 -1,010 -4,917 -44 3,049 1,389 904 655 526 648 958 592 300 Migration between both Republics† Immigrants 7,674 7,324 6,823 7,232 56 140 213 260 356 336 413 8,711* 14,455* Emigrants 10,073 8,334 11,740 7,276 4,076 3,845 3,450 3,088 2,887 3,235 2,826 3,078* 13,326* Balance -2,399 -1,010 -4,917 -44 -4,020 -3,705 -3,237 -2,828 -2,531 -2,899 -2,413 5,633* 1,129* † = data by the Czech Statistical Office * = incomparable due to the methodology change in the Czech Republic Source: Vývoj obyvateľstva... 1992-2003; Štatistická ročenka Slovenskej republiky 1991-2002; Populační vývoj České republiky 2002

In relation to depicted differences in Table 4 between the numbers of emigrants to the Czech Republic, it can be stated that data particularly on the emigrated persons from Slovakia are misrepresented to such an extent that they are not suitable for the next examination. Nevertheless, they are partly provided in Table 5 just to illustrate the positions of top 10 countries of emigration (in the table besides Czech Republic) from Slovakia within the last five years and by Graph 2 (here for the overall period of 1998- 2002 and along with data on Czech Republic): 17 Table 5. Top 10 countries of emigration from the Slovak Republic in 1998–2002 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 country number country number country number country number country number Germany 99 Germany 127 Germany 131 Austria 168 Germany 219 Austria 85 Austria 67 Austria 97 Germany 150 Austria 212 U.S.A. 58 U.S.A. 41 U.S.A. 44 Canada 71 Canada 82 Canada 45 Canada 30 Switzerland 35 U.S.A. 38 U.S.A. 70 Switzerland 41 Switzerland 26 Canada 26 Switzerland 33 Switzerland 59 Australia 20 U.K. 20 U.K. 25 U.K. 28 U.K. 55 Hungary 20 Australia 13 Italy 18 Italy 18 Italy 36 U.K. 17 Hungary 12 Australia 17 Hungary 17 Australia 30 Netherlands 14 Italy 10 Hungary 14 Australia 16 Hungary 24 France 10 Netherlands 7 Belgium 11 France 8 France 20 Source: Stav a pohyb obyvateľstva… 1999-2003

Further in the text, data on the immigrated persons will be taken into account more, as the degree of their representativeness is much higher. The structure of top 10 countries (except for the Czech Republic that is always the leading one owing to continuing return migration and is displayed separately) with the numbers of immigrated persons to the Slovak Republic in the past five years is demonstrated in Table 6 and by Graph 3 (here for the overall period of 1998-2002 and along with data on Czech Republic):

Table 6. Top 10 countries of immigration to the Slovak Republic in 1998–2002 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 country number country number country number country number country number Ukraine 268 Ukraine 180 Ukraine 161 Ukraine 124 Yugoslavia 217 Germany 93 Yugoslavia 110 U.S.A. 108 U.S.A. 124 Ukraine 148 Russia 91 Germany 100 Germany 74 Germany 97 U.S.A 123 Yugoslavia 87 Russia 86 Canada 73 Canada 68 Vietnam 122 Canada 74 Poland 71 Yugoslavia 66 Yugoslavia 60 Germany 86 Romania 65 Canada 59 Russia 56 Austria 49 Canada 71 Bulgaria 56 U.S.A. 57 Romania 49 Romania 44 Austria 64 Switzerland 51 Bulgaria 56 Switzerland 39 Switzerland 37 Russia 63 U.S.A. 45 Austria 39 Austria 37 Russia 32 FYROM 63 Austria 39 Romania 32 Poland 30 Hungary 32 Romania 56 Source: Stav a pohyb obyvateľstva… 1999-2003

Eight countries – besides the Czech Republic - are represented in each year: Ukraine, Yugoslavia, U.S.A., Germany, Canada, Russia, Austria and Romania. The chief source country of foreign immigration to Slovakia is still Czech Republic (see Table 4), but its share in total immigration is gradually diminishing. The second most numerous nationality has almost always been the Ukrainian (except for 2002). Out of them, a prevailing part consisted of migrants re-settled from areas endangered by Chernobyl who – themselves or their ancestors – were sometimes citizens of Czechoslovakia. By information rendered in interview No. 4 by a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, within the years 1993-1999 over 1,200 such Ukrainians settled down in the territory of Slovakia (cf. Gajdoš 2002). It is interesting that some 18 countries are more or less stable in the numbers of immigrants to Slovakia. However, the share of immigrants from the Americas and Asia has been rising step-by-step, while the share of immigrants from Europe has been decreasing in the course of the last decade (Stav a pohyb obyvateľstva… 1992-2003). Then, with moderate exceptions, return migration dominates in the structure of immigrants. It means that migrants from the countries mentioned have been mostly former emigrants often still with Slovak citizenship, only then foreigners. Just for example, in 2001, out of 2,023 immigrants to the country 1,492 persons were Slovak citizens and 531 persons were foreigners (Vývoj obyvateľstva… 2002). By data from another source (UN 2002), as many as 98% of all migrants from Germany and 95% of migrants from Austria since 1993 have been represented by Slovak nationals. Men form approximately 53% of all the immigrated. Some 40% of the migrants to Slovakia are in the age group of 25-39; the fact that positively influences the age structure of the Slovak population. The immigrants at productive age constitute 80% of the total, which may suggest oncoming economic migration (Vaňo 2000). Of course, the data presented here say nothing about undocumented migration, refugees, transient migrants etc. Therefore, other statistics and analyses are required when evaluating the contemporary migration movements in the Slovak Republic.

2.2 Undocumented migration There are many various definitions of migration, contents of the term and thereby also the different understanding of undocumented migration all over the world. In the case of the Slovak Republic, undocumented migration ex definitione means the migration of aliens as well as Slovak citizens, during which these persons enter the Slovak Republic illegally for various reasons or they leave the territory of the Slovak Republic illegally (Balga 1997; Office of Border and Alien Police 2001; Očenášová 2001).5 Border authorities of the Slovak Republic or those in the neighbouring countries detect unpermitted border crossings. Analogically, if an alien enters the state territory legally, but does not leave the country following the expiration of stay and remains in the territory without a permit - i.e. illegally, then he/she violates the constitutional preconditions for the long-term or permanent stay of aliens. (This is so-called illegal migration resulting from the violation of the status of stay.) Over the past 10 years the situation at the Slovak borders has been characterised by the dynamic growth of the pressure of irregular migrants upon the state border in the country.6 Several principal changes occurred in this field especially in the period of 1996 – 2002. The Slovak police intensified border controls and adopted sterner measures towards undocumented migrants. Then, irregular migration movements across the territory of Slovakia have shown an increasing tendency in consequence of the unstable situation in the Balkans and certain Asian countries, as well as due to weak economic performance and entailed social problems in some Eastern European and Asian countries. Currently, this growing trend of undocumented migration has a clear impact on Slovak society as regards the protection of borders, financial costs to manage it, the treatment of migrants

5 Primarily this group of migrants will be studied within undocumented migration in this report 6 This expression is officially used by the Slovak Border and Alien Police and is to be understood as the number of identified and unidentified persons who illegally crossed or who unsuccessfully tried - also for several times - to cross the Slovak border in both directions in a year 19 apprehended, costs for the asylum procedure, the fight against potential terrorism etc. Elementary quantitative data on undocumented migrants in the Slovak Republic for a longer period may be found in Table 7 and Graph 4:

Table 7. Numbers of irregular migrants having crossed the state borders of Slovakia in 1993–2002 Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 From SR 1,1411,017 1,446 2,374 2,088 6,320 5,081 3,823 10,773 10,252 To SR 1,041 883 1,340 955 733 1,916 2,969 2,239 4,775 4,983 Total2,182 1,900 2,786 3,329 2,821 8,236 8,050 6,062 15,548 15,235 Source: Office of Border and Alien Police 2002 et 2003

The monthly course of the intensity of undocumented migration in Slovakia within the last 3 years - that are perhaps the most important as for the rising numbers of irregular migrants - is illustrated by Graph 5. Another overview of undocumented migration in Slovakia in the years 1993 - 2002 is depicted in the following table (Table 8) according to the individual state borders:

Table 8. Overview of the numbers of irregular migrants at the borders of Slovakia with the neighbouring countries in 1993–2002 Border\Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Hungary 1,038 567 893 497 561 1,270 606 428 1,703 1,799 Ukraine 91 66 92 235 105 365 1,662 1,473 1,945 2,399 Poland 744 715 1,015 755 564 843 802 737 748 761 Czech Rep. x 380 631 1,622 926 5,254 3,485 2,190 4,098 3,983 Austria 309 163 155 220 665 504 1,402 1,234 6,083 6,293 Interior x x x x x 7 93 x 971 x Total 2,182 1,891 2,786 3,329 2,821 8,236 8,050 6,062 15,548 15,235 Source: Office of Border and Alien Police 2002 et 2003

As to undocumented movement directions, the Slovak Republic still belongs to the group of transit countries. The prevailing majority of migrants do not manifest an interest in staying on the Slovak territory. As demonstrated in Table 9, their goal is to get across Austria or the Czech Republic to Germany, or other Western European countries (also Lubyová 2001):

Table 9. Undocumented migration through all borders of the Slovak Republic in both directions in 2002 Border with Ex SR To SR Total Austria 5,755 538 6,293 Czech Republic 3,974 9 3,983 Ukraine 8 2,391 2,399 Hungary 52 1,747 1,799 Poland 463 298 761 Total10,252 4,983 15,235 Source: Office of Border and Alien Police 2003 20 The 3-year development of undocumented migration according to the individual borders of Slovakia is shown in Graph 6. A shorter period here nicely reveals the increase in irregular migrants, notably through the borders of Austria, Czech Republic, and Hungary7: As far as the structure of undocumented migrants apprehended in the territory of Slovakia by country of origin is concerned, it has slightly changed over the recent years. Unequivocally, migrants from Asian countries such as Afghanistan, China, India, Iraq, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iran together with those from a few European countries (Russian Federation–Chechnya, Moldavia, Armenia) and then from certain African countries, too (Somalia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone) dominate. In some cases, undocumented migration has been more caused by political reasons (Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka), in others migration is predominantly of an economic nature and the combination of both push factors is not seldom as well (Russia–Chechnya, Somalia, Armenia). However, in general, the majority of undocumented migrants come from countries with weak economies, they lack any funds, consist of the groups of socially dependant people (Office of Border and Alien Police 2002). Graph 7 brings a more detailed view of the top 10 countries of origin as to apprehended irregular migrants in Slovakia in 2002 and Table 10 specifies the numbers of undocumented migrants according to 25 main countries as well as the borders at or close to which they were apprehended:

Table 10. Top 25 countries as to the number of apprehended migrants by respective state borders of Slovakia in 2002 Country\Border Czech Rep. Austria Ukraine Hungary Poland Total Afghanistan 498 1,361 184 745 0 2,788 China 1,494 77 715 0 150 2,436 India 679 1,378 317 57 1 2,432 Iraq 345 904 84 321 0 1,654 Bangladesh 345 644 148 168 0 1,305 Russia 40 665 163 36 1 905 Moldavia 189 200 132 1 0 522 Poland 4 4 0 0 339 347 Somalia 14 123 6 130 0 273 Vietnam 78 2 132 0 52 264 Pakistan 21 162 63 15 0 261 Slovakia 19 39 35 49 105 247 Armenia 9 65 86 0 2 162 Sri Lanka 54 22 52 1 0 129 Nigeria 22 69 0 33 0 124 Iran 16 51 11 41 0 119 Sierra Leone 21 54 0 18 0 93 Turkey 2 69 10 10 0 91 Georgia 9 31 25 19 0 84 Nepal 5 45 33 0 0 83 Yugoslavia 28 43 0 1 0 72 Ukraine 7 29 13 18 1 68 Palestine 4 45 9 7 0 65 non-identified persons 03158113175 other countries & persons 80 208 23 128 97 536 without citizenship All countries total 3,983 6,293 2,399 1,799 761 15,235 Source: Internal statistics of the Office of Border and Alien Police 2003 21 Comparing partly development within 2000 - 2002, migrants from the following top 7 countries of origin were apprehended at the Slovak borders because of unpermitted crossing the border or for an attempt to do so – Graph 7. It is evident from the presented data that in 2002 only undocumented migrants from Afghanistan markedly decreased in number in contradistinction to the preceding period. The reason is obvious - the return of the country to democracy. Contrariwise, the numbers of irregular migrants from China, India, Bangladesh, Russia or Moldavia are in principle still increasing. The number of Iraqis has been falling since 2003. Undocumented migration is - in consequence of stricter regulations at granting visa and permits for stay directly at border check-points - visible in the efforts of aliens to get to the Slovak territory with false travel documents, visa, vouchers, and invitations to private visits or business trips. Table 11 illustrates the ways of falsifying travel documents (passports) most often used when entering the Slovak border in the past period:

Table 11. Falsifying and changing the travel document by identified ways Way of falsification Year 2000 2001 2002 exchange of photo 200 174 65 data transcription 6 14 33 exchange of pages 2 10 84 document issued by unauthorised person 4 5 4 completely counterfeit document 16 27 11 false visa 37 7 17 use of proper document by another person 67 30 32 document issued to another person than personal data in it 5 1 3 Total 337 268 249 Source: Office of Border and Alien Police 2003

The contemporary situation in undocumented migration in the Slovak Republic is conditioned by these cardinal factors (Office of Border and Alien Police 2003; IOM 2000a; Liss 2002): - despite taken measures, there is an insufficiently functional protection of the border between Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The regime at this border is non-standard, specific, looser; determined by mutual conventions to alleviate the movement of citizens of both states resulting in a free border crossing, which considerably aggravates an effective control of persons at the border; - the next factor could be an inadequate protection of the border between Slovakia and Hungary from the side of Hungarian border authorities. Moreover, just behind the border in the town of Balassagyarmat in Hungary, there is a reception centre for aliens from where these quite often got used to escape and move towards Slovakia; - problems at the Slovak-Ukraine border are rather publicised and well-known. Local

7 Methodologically, in 2001, migrants apprehended within the interior of Slovakia or at the airports were attributed to the category of “Interior”; in other years to the traced or probable border of their entry into the country 22 mountainous and forested terrain is hardly accessible for regular controls and requires more guards and sophisticated technique. In addition, the numbers of undocumented migrants from Ukraine heading to the west reach tremendous levels; - migration pressure on the Slovak-Austrian border is the highest within the country in the last period and is constituted by undocumented migrants in direction from Slovakia towards the west. The border is substantially made up by the Morava River with a high share of forests along it. The position of Bratislava right at the border and greater anonymity in the city facilitate operations of smugglers and the movement of migrants in this space; - finally, in the case of many migrants apprehended and then, after their request, permitted by law into the asylum procedure, they quite often misuse this procedure. Their actual intention is not to be granted asylum in the Slovak Republic, but to go further to the west (notably migrants from Asia, but not only). As a consequence, they may be apprehended at the border once again and so the numbers of irregular migrants rise. Migrants try crossing the Slovak border illegally in some cases even for several times in a series. This phenomenon can be called secondary irregular migration significantly increasing the figures characterising the migration pressure upon the state border (Office of Border and Alien Police 2003). Currently, the authorities develop an evaluation of secondary irregular migration; this will enhance the objectivity of submitted statistical data.

2.3 Tourism Tourism represents a legal form of the short-term migration of people rendering benefits for both sides – the attended country and its inhabitants as well as the tourists proper. As it is not a fundamental aim of this text to occupy itself with tourism, just very elementary data pertaining to it are here presented on the margin of migration issues examined more deeply. Table 12 depicts the numbers of persons participating in active and passive tourism in both directions in the Slovak Republic within the past 8 years along with the number of travel means having passed the Slovak borders, all arranged chronologically:

Table 12. Statistical data on the numbers of tourists to and from Slovakia in 1995–2002 Year Number of Foreigners of Number of passed Slovak neighbouring other non-visa visa passed persons citizens states states states transport in total means 1995 89,072,588 35,810,533 32,800,484 20,021,944 439,577 25,540,582 1996 109,916,732 45,794,258 40,353,693 23,273,815 494,966 30,486,623 1997 110,744,977 45,980,816 42,057,957 22,268,388 437,816 29,493,364 1998 111,625,748 47,141,071 41,980,816 22,013,380 490,481 31,446,020 1999 104,054,947 43,632,785 42,139,072 17,951,472 331,618 29,008,394 2000 96,798,411 39,972,429 40,178,628 16,264,830 382,524 27,146,688 2001 90,408,198 35,924,704 38,509,327 15,516,597 457,570 26,614,519 2002 86,699,276 34,511,574 36,985,544 14,772,278 429,880 26,483,085 Source: Office of Border and Alien Police 2003 23 2.4 Foreigners in the territory of the country The responsible body in this field – the Office of Border and Alien Police of the Ministry of Interior in the Slovak Republic – is authorised to act in all the matters regarding the stay of aliens in the country. As will be explained more in detail in the chapter dealing with the legal background of the stay of foreigners in Slovakia, there are several categories of these stays, differentiated by their purposes in the country, according to the National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 48/2002 on Stay of Aliens. These categories are as follows: permanent stay, temporary stay, long-term stay, registered stay, tolerated stay. The official Border and Alien Police statistics register separately the aliens living in the country from some 150 state entities from all over the world; the other foreigners are included in ”other countries”. As of the end of 2002, 29,505 aliens were granted a certain form of stay in the territory of the Slovak Republic (Internal statistics of the Office of Border and Alien Police 2003). When confronting the total number of inhabitants in the country (5,379,161 at the same date – Stav a pohyb obyvateľstva… 2003), the aliens living in the territory of Slovakia constitute only 0.55% of the total population. This figure is rather low in comparison with the shares of aliens in neighbouring countries. Graph 9 pictures the top 10 countries of origin of foreigners with granted stays in Slovakia at the end of 2002. The statistical overview of these aliens according to their countries of origin and the particular categories of stay is shown in Table 13:

Table 13. Top 25 states as for aliens with permits to stay in the Slovak Republic by category of stay as of December 31, 2002 State Total permanent long-term temporary registered tolerated Czech Republic 5,355 4,031 500 822 2 0 Ukraine 4,744 3,387 662 689 1 5 Poland 2,354 2,112 67 172 3 0 Romania 1,922 538 1,350 34 0 0 Vietnam 1,730 481 171 1,078 0 0 Yugoslavia 1,590 619 756 215 0 0 Hungary 1,533 1,430 33 70 0 0 Russia 1,378 925 95 358 0 0 Germany 892 294 177 157 264 0 China 877 34 139 703 1 0 Bulgaria 828 719 22 87 0 0 United States of America 692 265 106 320 1 0 Austria 478 138 102 58 180 0 Croatia 419 216 57 144 2 0 FYROM 386 195 27 164 0 0 Italy 360 75 52 71 162 0 United Kingdom 307 77 32 57 140 1 Bosnia and Herzegovina 245 160 26 59 0 0 France 197 32 31 44 90 0 Israel 138 16 3 119 0 0 Libya 125 12 14 99 0 0 Kuwait 121 7 1 111 0 2 Armenia 119 67 9 42 0 1 The Netherlands 115 35 16 16 48 0 other countries 2,600 1,243 169 1,027 156 5 All countries together 29,505 17,108 4,617 6,716 1,050 14 Source: Internal statistics of the Office of Border and Alien Police 2003 24 If looking at the top 10 or 25 states as for the number of aliens living in Slovakia, it is not surprising that most of the neighbouring countries along with countries from the broader CEE region and those with immigration relations to Slovakia may be found in this group. Vietnam (nowadays also China) is a historical exception; the establishment of a community of these migrants dates back to times of the communist regime when the state supported Vietnam by providing its inhabitants with positions in industry and vocational schools. This was the beginning of the concentration of Vietnamese in the Slovak territory as pointed out in interview No. 13 by an expert–geographer. Recently, the communities of persons from some Western European countries also markedly grow in Slovakia; high-skilled experts from these states offer their services as various representatives, managers, lecturers, experts, scientists etc. within registered stay in the country. Also, important may be the overall development of stays in total since 1994, as manifested in Table 14. Then, the intensity of granting and/or cancelling stays in Slovakia until 2002 by individual categories of stays can be seen in Graph 10:

Table 14. Development in the number of stays granted to aliens in Slovakia between 1994–2002 Year 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Total16,946 21,909 21,482 26,424 28,419 29,488 28,801 29,418 29,505 Source: Office of Border and Alien Police 2002 et 2003

All other statistics referring to aliens in the territory of the Slovak Republic are not observed, so they are not available at this time point. It is a great pity; at least the structures of aliens in the country by gender, age, or education would certainly be of significance. It is needed to accentuate at the conclusion of this text passage – summarising also the facts from interview No. 1 with a representative of the Office of Border and Alien Police in the Slovak Republic – that the legal regulation of entry and stay of aliens alone is not sufficient for the depiction of migration in terms of aliens. Such regulation is only a part in the whole system of regulations concerning migration. This system consists of the legal norms on conditions for the employment of aliens, the international treaties on co- operation at state borders and on repatriation, visa policy, the agreements regulating the inflow of foreign labour force to the domestic labour market and the effective border protection against non-legal entries to the country.

2.5 Asylum seekers, refugees A part of legal migration may also be represented by the extraordinary forms of stay that enable aliens to legally stay in the territory of the country as asylum seekers and refugees, i.e. aliens whom the Government of the Slovak Republic gives shelter by its decision. The legal norm defining the matters about asylum is the National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 480/2002 on Asylum that regulates, among others, the asylum procedure. Persons who express their will to enter the asylum procedure, who are already in it or 25 who were granted asylum, are in the competence of the Migration Office of the Ministry of Interior in the Slovak Republic. The Migration Office holds their registers, statistics, and all records necessary for a due treatment of this category of migrants. The following quantitative data try to illustrate the contemporary situation and development with asylum seekers in the Slovak Republic in the course of last 10 years. Table 15 presents the synoptic statistics of applicants for the status of refugee:

Table 15. Development of asylum seekers in the Slovak Republic in 1992–2002 Slovak Asylum Asylum Procedure Pending Year Applicants citizenship granted rejected suspended decisions* granted 1992 87 56 0 0 31 0 1993 96 39 20 25 43 0 1994 140 55 32 65 31 0 1995 359 67 57 190 75 0 1996 415 129 62 193 106 4 1997 645 65 84 539 63 14 1998 506 49 36 224 260 22 1999 1,320 27 176 1,034 343 2 2000 1,556 11 123 1,366 400 0 2001 8,151 18 130 5,247 3,156 10 2002 9,743 20 309 8,053 4,516 47 Total 23,018 537 1,029 16,936 4,516 99 * = cumulated number Source: Internal statistics of the Migration Office 2003

Graph 11 partly depicts data from Table 15 emphasising graphically the courses of numbers in the particular categories of asylum seekers. The overall growth (with the exception of the number of granted asylums) within the past 2 - 3 years is more than evident. One can clearly see the quantitative growth of asylum seekers from 1992; within the period of 11 years it has been around 112-fold! The number of those granted asylum is, however, rather low – just 537 persons till the end of 2002. Moreover, although the numbers of asylum seekers have substantially increased during the recent period, the granted asylums culminated around 1996 and now seem to be rather symbolic – Graph 12. In most of the cases, the asylum procedure was stopped because respective asylum seekers left the country towards the Western European ones. This is the reason why the Migration Office is quite strict in granting asylums in Slovakia as stressed in interview No. 2 with a representative of the Migration Office. But information corroborated by interviews No. 24 with a former migrant with Slovak citizenship granted, No. 25 with a migrant with asylum granted, No. 26 and No. 27 with current asylum seekers, and by interview No. 8 with a representative of UNHCR–Slovakia is partly of another character: Some part of those who left being tired from long waiting for asylum (and with a little 26 chance) would have stayed in the territory of the Slovak Republic, if they had been granted asylum sooner or had a greater chance to obtain it. Table 16 demonstrates the structure of persons with the refugee status (without those with Slovak citizenship granted) according to the countries of their origin from 1992 on. Not surprising is the fact that the highest figures have been achieved by applicants from Afghanistan, Iraq, or Bosnia and Herzegovina, i.e. countries in a turbulent political state or with the military regime at those times.

Table 16. Overview of aliens granted asylum (without those with granted Slovak citizenship later) in the Slovak Republic by countries of origin within 1992–2002 State Number State Number Afghanistan 176 Congo 4 Algeria 1 Congo, Dem. Rep. 6 Angola 20 Liberia 3 Armenia 11 Pakistan 2 Bosnia & Herzegovina 35 Russia - Chechnya 6 Bulgaria 8 Romania 34 China 1 Russia 18 Egypt 2 Sierra Leone 1 Ethiopia 1 Somalia 14 India 1 Syria 2 Iraq 40 Tanzania 2 Iran 3 Uzbekistan 3 Israel 1 Vietnam 7 Yugoslavia 31 stateless persons 2 Cambodia 3 Total 438

Source: Internal statistics of the Migration Office 2003 The structure of persons who were granted Slovak citizenship out of the asylum seekers in 1992 - 2002 according to the countries of origin is contained in Table 17. These people, of course, stem from former refugees and acquiring citizenship is a logical conclusion of their endeavours and integration processes. Here, once again, Afghanis dominate over the second large group – Armenians.

Table 17. Overview of former refugees with granted Slovak citizenship in the Slovak Republic by countries of origin between 1992–2002

State Number State Number Afghanistan 39 Madagascar 1 Angola 3 Romania 3 Armenia 23 Russia 7 Algeria 1 Somalia 1 Burundi 2 Syria 1 Iran 1 Ukraine 5 Yugoslavia 4 Vietnam 8 Total 99 Source: Internal statistics of the Migration Office 2003 27 The Migration Office also offers some other characteristics of asylum seekers in the territory of the Slovak Republic. Nevertheless, the extent or quality of such statistics are not always on a required level – in some months certain parameters have been observed, in other months not, or been treated in another way. Therefore, neither all data nor all periods are comparable. Quite interesting could be the structure of asylum applicants according to their age. For the year 2002, merely data from April on exist showing that most of the asylum seekers - nearly 40% - are at the age of 18-25. There are a few differences between males and females: the strongest age category of women is that of 26-40 and the share of very young girls (0-14) in asylum seekers is also relatively high. These facts are well portrayed in Table 18 and Graph 13:

Table 18. Age structure of asylum applicants in the Slovak Republic in the period of April-December 2002 by gender Applicants Men Women Age Abs. In % Abs. In % 0-14 362 4.7 196 2.5 15-17 1,296 16.6 47 0.6 18-25 2,816 36.2 284 3.6 26-40 2,114 27.2 342 4.4 41-60 259 3.3 61 0.8 61 + 3 0 5 0.1 Total 6,850 88.0 935 12.0 Source: Internal monthly statistics of the Migration Office 2002 and own calculations

Table 18, Graph 13, as well as following Graph 14 confirm the experience obtained from other immigration countries that the typical profile of an immigrant is – young, single, male. Data on the marital status of asylum seekers in Slovakia are not available but the gender structure of asylum applicants (reaching 8,723 males – 89.5% and 1,020 females – 10.5% in the total) in the country in 2002 is illustrated by Graph 14. Finally, there is another statistical variable that is sometimes observed in Slovakia. It is a pity that it is not done continuously but rather occasionally, although its relevance is rising. Unaccompanied minors represent an increasingly significant group of migrants being in the situation with grave consequences for themselves and also for the country they are found in. In the Slovak Republic, the Migration Office is able to publish data on them for certain periods. For instance, in 2002 there are data for the months of August to December – Table 19:

Table 19. Unaccompanied minors in Slovakia by gender in the period of August- -December 2002 Month Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Total In % males 147 206 337 245 163 1,098 97.3 females 9 4 4 5 8 30 2.7 Total156 210 341 250 171 1,128 100.0 Source: Internal monthly statistics of the Migration Office 2002 28 The number of unaccompanied minors coming to the territory of Slovakia can be assessed at around two thousand in all months of 2002 (own estimates), which is not a small figure for such a little country. Moreover, this phenomenon is on the rise and also for the reason that the vulnerability of this group of migrants is enormous, it is still more important to tackle it in a proper way. By the same statistical source (i.e. Internal monthly statistics of the Migration Office 2002), most of the unaccompanied minors in 2002 came from Bangladesh (433 persons), India (293 persons), Afghanistan (127 persons), and China (89 persons). These four countries’ share in the total number of unaccompanied minors in the Slovak Republic in the given period is 86%. Owing to it, resolving the problem of smuggling unaccompanied minors should be seen as a fundamental task for both the sending countries as well as Slovakia itself. 29 3. Factors contributing to migration movements

When migration – of any kind - on a certain territory is studied and then evaluated, it is always interesting and even necessary to deal with the factors that cause, influence or contribute to various migration movements.

3.1 Push and pull factors In accordance with the theory of push and pull factors for migrants and its multiple verification in migration processes all over the world with significant results obtained (cf. IOM 2002; IOM et UN 2000b; Salt 2000; IOM et ICMPD 1999; Appleyard 1991; and many other sources), this conceptual framework was followed at finding out the conditions for migration to (and partly from) the Slovak Republic. Practically no Slovak literature sources on these aspects do exist, hence some foreign sources just marginally mentioning push and pull factors in relation to Slovakia could be used. But much more contributional were in-depth interviews performed with representatives of state organisations, research institutes, scientists from various areas, NGOs, IGO and migrants alone. In these interviews, the very first question was aimed at ascertaining the potential and real push and pull factors for migrants in view of their movement to Slovakia (in the case of the Roma also from the country). A selection of representative opinions of experts and expressions of migrants is presented below.

As to the push factors, the responses embrace: “I consider poverty, the lack of economic opportunities, and the loss of feeling as regards the stability of the social system to be the push factors. So the political situation and the low living standard.” (interview No. 4) “Mainly economic reasons – a lower living standard in the countries of origin. Less pronounced is lower safety there.” (interview No. 14 with an expert-demographer) “The cardinal push factors are: the shortage of suitable labour opportunities, bad conditions to do business, the hard social situation, the non-existence of better outlooks, the impossibility of self-fulfilment.” (interview No. 5 with a representative of the National Labour Office in Slovakia) “Unequivocally the economic reasons, the reasons of lesser freedom or breaking the human rights are secondary.” (interview No. 13) „People are pushed to escape from the country of their origin due to persecution – political, racial, religion, ethnic etc.; after natural disasters and for economic reasons – seeking a job or a study position.” (interview No. 15 with an expert-ethnologist) “Push factors are in order of urgency: a war conflict, economic situation, and opportunities for better self-fulfilment.“ (interview No. 6 with a representative of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic) “The most common push factors are evidently adverse economic conditions and subsequently social ones.” (interview No. 2) 30 “The push factors are economic instability, the lack of prospects for life, the impossibility of further education, religion non-freedom, political unrest, family tragedies.” (interview No. 21 with an expert from the NGO - Slovak Humanitarian Council) “I had many troubles in my country since I belong to a national minority. So I was obliged to leave for another, better country.” (interview No. 26 with an asylum seeker – a man from Sri Lanka) “I suffered from racism and police persecution in my country, because my spouse is from Africa.” (interview No. 27 with an asylum seeker – a woman from Ukraine) Out of the interviews made with Roma or their representatives as well as non-Roma experts, it is apparent that the push factors for the Roma to leave the Slovak Republic are a mixture of economic, social and political reasons. It is usually difficult to say which of them are objectively more important (Vašečka I. 2001). Experts stress more the economic reasons; while Roma state: “discrimination, racism, skinheads, the wrong treatment from the side of the state or local authorities as well as current poverty, the lack of money, unemployment, housing and health problems, …we face.” (interview No. 28 with a representative of the [Slovak] Roma Parliament, interviews No. 29 and No. 30 with former migrants – a Roma man and a Roma woman returned from abroad; cf. IOM 2000b).

The heterogeneity of the pull factors for migrants to come to the Slovak Republic is mostly characterised by the following statements8: “Above all it is the economic and social development of Slovakia relating to its soon accession to the EU.” (interview No. 1) “Searching for a dignified life and better living standard, life without violence and starvation.” (interview No. 10 with a representative of self-government from a large city – the Municipal Office of Bratislava) “The higher living standard of Slovakia than in the countries of origin. Only a lower number of migrants come here on the grounds of higher safety in Slovakia.” (interview No. 14) “Work in our territory, either officially or illegally. It is also advantageous to study in the Slovak Republic.” (interview No. 12 with an expert–sociologist) “The achievement of existential certainties, safety, the improvement of economic position, the ensuring of religion and political freedoms.” (interview No. 4) ”The essential pull factors to come to Slovakia are arrival in order to seek a job in a developing economy on the higher level than at home, opportunities to study in renowned fields, relatively a calm political situation.“ (interview No. 18 with an expert from the NGO Björnson Society) “The crucial pull factor for migrants is life in a free, economically advanced country.” (interview No. 2) “Slovakia was the only country to which I was able to receive a visa.” (interview No. 25) ”I would like to stay here and find a job; your country is also more safe than mine.“ (interview No. 26)

8 In this place the role of Slovakia for most migrants as a gateway to Western European countries (as accentuated by the majority of interviewees) is intentionally neglected and those responses in which the Slovak Republic is comprehended as a target country for immigrants are primarily taken into account 31 “I would like to live here in a quiet way, without persecution, normally like a human being. You belong also to the Slaves, so the language does not represent any bigger problem for me.“ (interview No. 27).

It is possible now to generalise information obtained from the interviews referring to the push and pull factors in connection with the Slovak Republic. Migration is a very complicated social phenomenon and its manifestations are very much variable including its push and pull factors. The fundamental push factors at present are deemed the severe economic and social situation in many countries of the world9 as well as internal and foreign military conflicts and still increasingly natural disaster. So the push factors for migrants coming to the territory of Slovakia - be they legal, irregular, aliens, or asylum seekers – are firstly hard economic conditions in the countries of origin, the lack of jobs (sometimes even qualified ones), poverty; secondly unsafe life with persecution for racial, religion, ethnic, political reasons, the breaking of human rights and freedoms; thirdly military conflicts or danger; and finally the other factors, e.g. natural disasters (famine, the lack of drinking water etc.). As far as citizens of Slovakia are concerned – chiefly the Roma in this context – the principal push factors for their departure from the country is their deepening economic and social marginalisation combined with the feelings of discrimination, intolerance, and peril from the side of local radical groups. The Roma expect better economic opportunities and a more tolerant multicultural approach in the target countries. The non-Roma residents are motivated (rather) to temporarily emigrate from Slovakia due to the economic imbalance and disproportion in wages, or high unemployment in certain Slovak regions. But these issues will be discussed below. The cardinal pull factors for migrants entering the territory of the Slovak Republic and wishing to stay on it are aspirations for a better economic life, intentions to multiply job and studies opportunities, to try to initiate entrepreneurial activities, to find a shelter for themselves and their families, not to be persecuted any more, to integrate into society and to live a normal life. Next influencing factors may also be cultural, religious and mental affinities of a certain share of migrants to the Slovak environment along with easier language communication. Historically created relations to Slovak minorities in the neighbouring countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine), some CEE countries (Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria) or overseas countries (U.S.A., Canada, Argentina, Australia) cannot be omitted either, although the numbers of migrants coming to Slovakia with a definite intention to return/settle down in the country are not very high compared to the total figures of migrants. However, most of the experts or representatives from various institutions add (and migrants claim indirectly the same) that just a low percentage of migrants crossing the borders of the country wish to stay in the Slovak Republic for a longer period or to settle down. The essential pull factor for them is rather that Slovakia is a transit country to the EU, is geographically quite close to it and will become soon its Member State. Migrants therefore see a good opportunity to continue from Slovakia towards countries of Western and Northern Europe with a markedly better economic situation and living standard, often with higher care for migrants.

9 From the viewpoint of Slovakia, particularly in some countries of Eastern Europe and Central and East Asia 32 As a former migrant, currently with granted Slovak citizenship, said in an interview (No. 23): “According to me, the greatest influence on migration has the growing difference in the living standard of people in various parts of the world. I guess that as long as the rich are becoming richer and the poor poorer, the number of migrants will increase. Only in the second position there are military conflicts that are in substance a consequence of the first reason. Deeper foreknowledge of people about other countries in the world has a distinct impact on migration, too.”

3.2 The role of family and other informal links The role of family, friends, acquaintances or migrants’ organisations in encouraging international migration is indisputable and it may not be different in the case of migrants entering or staying in the territory of the Slovak Republic. What is this role actually for migrants in Slovakia? Its relevance has been elucidated quite sufficiently with the help of in-depth interviews with migrants. Accordingly, existing contacts of a migrant abroad are already crucial during the phase of his/her decision-making on departure from the country of origin and at selecting a target country. Already then a migrant judges where to migrate and who could help him/her within the circle of his/her family, friends and acquaintances. Thus in many cases the social links are a background for permanent or seasonal emigration. Such relations are extremely significant at arriving in a target country, and migrants in Slovakia are not an exception. With the help of these links an alien can much more easily be oriented in an unknown language environment and in often entirely different living conditions. Family/friend-based co-operation is above all evident in such groups as Vietnamese, Afghanis, Ukrainians, former Yugoslav nationalities (information from interview No. 7 with a representative of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic). They endeavour to keep contacts with families in their home countries and with friends and acquaintances in Slovakia. They frequently help each other financially, by advice, morally etc. Migrants’ associations ensure necessary information on the home country, but also legal consultations, the organisation of cultural, sports, religious events and so on. As confirmed by interview No. 23 with a former migrant, a representative of the Afghani Association in Slovakia, well-known are in this context mainly the activities of this organisation as an officially representing association of persons having come from Afghanistan and building up good contacts with Slovaks, too. But there may also be found other, less official organisations of migrants in the Slovak Republic: the Association of students from Latin America, the Association of students from Africa, the Association of students from Palestine, Syria, the Association of Vietnamese entrepreneurs, and others. They, however, act as rather enclosed communities with no official relations to the public. Communities of migrants – either official or unofficial – facilitate migrants’ stay, assist at seeking a job, place of residence, school, as well as with many other matters sometimes trivial for the natives. Family members or friends play a substantial role for a migrant in Slovakia also in the process of leaving the country. This is the case when such persons live particularly in a contemporary Member State of the European Union. The migrant, after a certain time spent in Slovakia, moves further to join these persons, because this has been his/her original intention. Alternatively, favourable conditions to work and live over there may have evolved for him/her in the meantime. 33 For Slovaks who used to work abroad in a seasonal or a long-term way, social relations are relevant in a similar way. Friends and acquaintances inform a (potential) migrant from Slovakia about possibilities of employment, travelling, and housing in the place of destination. This function is quite pronounced in communities of Slovaks in Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom (as found from interviews No. 5, No. 6, No. 29 and No. 30), or in the U.S.A. (Zajacová 2000). So one may conclude that the role of social links (social capital) is very important in any kind of migration, in certain nationalities and for certain kinds of migration movements more than for others. These links are presuppositions for a lighter bearing of life in a foreign country, provide required information and assistance in a foreign environment. They also mediate news from the home country. As one migrant with granted asylum said in an interview (No. 25): “Friends and acquaintances constitute the strongest relation in my life here in Slovakia”.

3.3 Ethnic migration

3.3.1 Ethnic immigration There are not many examples of larger ethnic immigration to the Slovak Republic in comparison with some other countries in the region. Figures regarding the return of persons of Slovak origin from the Czech Republic and vice versa in the 1990s are described in the above text passages. This is not a very typical case since both currently separate republics were until recently a common state. Analogically, the returns of ethnic Slovaks from such countries as Yugoslavia, Romania, Hungary, some Western and overseas countries cannot be specially stressed in this place for they lack a mass character and are mostly just individual decisions. However, one case could be mentioned here in detail. In the course of 1947 over 12,000 persons, mostly of the Ruthenian ethnic group from Eastern Slovakia, opted for a new citizenship and place of residence in the U.S.S.R. (Ukraine) on the basis of an agreement between Czechoslovakia and Soviet Union (Gajdoš 2002; Kruško 2003). Their expectations were, however, not fulfilled because they came to the surroundings less developed as a whole leaving them disillusioned. Even the language they used was not Ukrainian but Ruthenian. Only a political thaw at the end of the 1960s allowed a part of them (around 6,000 persons) to come back; the rest had to stay. Following the Chernobyl catastrophe, attempts to return to Slovakia were intensified. With the change of political systems both in Czechoslovakia and the U.S.S.R. negotiations could freely start up. As a consequence, owing to the general support of the Co-ordination Committee of Reoptants10 as well as the Migration Office of the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic on the Slovak side, next former citizens of Slovakia or their offsprings were allowed to come back to the country. They re-opted for Slovak citizenship or permanent stay within a large campaign in 1993-1999. During this campaign, 1,201 displaced persons were resettled in the territory of Slovakia in 19 waves. Nevertheless, about 4,000 people more of Ruthenian-Slovak origin still remain in Ukraine. It is therefore presumable that part of them will wish to migrate to the Slovak Republic (interview No. 4 with a

10 “Reoptants” are individuals who opt for taking up the Slovak nationality, as their forefathers had been holders of Slovak or Czechoslovak passports 34 representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic and from the informational materials of the Co-ordination Committee of Reoptants in Prešov).

3.3.2 Ethnic emigration Ethnic emigration from the Slovak Republic refers exclusively to the ethnic group of the Roma relatively largely represented in the country. According to the last census taken in 2001, the number of the Roma accounted for 89,920 persons, thus making up merely 1.7% of the total population in Slovakia (Štatistická ročenka Slovenskej republiky 2002). Nevertheless, their real figure is more likely to range between 300,000 up to 520,000 persons, as argued by various more or less qualified estimates (e.g. ICMPD 2001; Liegeois / Gheorghe 1995; Vaňo 2001b; Vašečka M. 2001; Internal reports of IOM- Bratislava Field Office Košice 2002). The main methodological and practical problem is that the overwhelming majority of the Roma declared themselves other nationalities in the country during the census. Notwithstanding, rough estimates of the Roma are admitted as their actual numbers. This fact, along with their difficulties, such as position in society, degree of integration, public opinion about them etc. raise many demographic, social, economic, political, cultural and other questions being of significance not only for researchers. Hence, it is inevitable to deal with this ethnic group in an unbiased and constructive way. In addition, if problems pertaining to the Roma result partly in their emigration from Slovakia, this should be of concern to international as well as domestic institutions. Over the recent years, a multitude of research projects, reports, studies, scientific articles along with different practical outputs (as campaigns, assistance in the field, advocating, various grants and the like) have been a consequence of the engagement of many organisations and individuals in resolving the “Roma question” in the Slovak Republic. There is not enough place to approach this matter in much detail in this text. The interested reader can find comprehensive information on Roma issues, accompanied by varied evaluations, statistics, proposals etc., in sources such as, for example, a publication released through IOM (Social and economic situation of potential asylum seekers from the Slovak Republic, IOM 2000b), in reports, publications and contributions by the World Bank [Svetová banka] (2002), Vašečka / Jurásková / Nicholson (2003), Ivanov (2002), Kotvanová / Szép (2002), Lenczová et al. (2002), Internal reports of IOM-Bratislava Field Office Košice (2002), Reyniers (1995), Divinský (1993) and a number of more or less recent others. In this text passage, one should rather focus on the emigration of Roma from the Slovak Republic during the past five years reflected in figures. The reason is that such emigration has obviously had an ethnic nature. Despite of the fact that an absolutely reliable database is not available, a certain picture may be outlined in Table 20. It indicates the numbers of asylum seekers in the mentioned period by selected European countries: 35 Table 20. Numbers of asylum seekers from the Slovak Republic in selected European countries in 1998–2002 State CZ B DK FIN NL D UK S NO IRL Total Year 1998 6 985 90 20 293 0 2,207 17 0 69 3,687 1999 12 1,175987 1,250 360 313 6 132 233 0 4,468 2000 723 1,392 10 434 977 0 3 109 964 39 4,651 2001 387 855 312 88 211 138 60 348 187 69 2,655 2002 842637 35 421 200 673 115 781 324 0 4,028 Total 1,970 5,044 1,434 2,213 2,041 1,124 2,391 1,387 1,708 177 19,489 Source: Internal documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2003; ICMPD 2001 and own calculations

It has to be emphasised that although Table 20 shows the number of asylum seekers from Slovakia abroad without a narrower specification, these persons are Roma to a very high percentage (cf. ICMPD 2001; IOM et ICMPD 2002; UN 2002). On the other side, these figures11 are quite inaccurate in comparison with the actual situation of Roma migrants. It is so for several reasons: Firstly, data on asylum seekers are available only at Slovak embassies abroad. It means that the undocumented emigration of Roma from Slovakia is not observed at all and is hardly known in practical terms. Additionally, data do not cover all countries of Western Europe, but only selected ones.12 Also, some of these countries consider providing such data not too appropriate for the country from which asylum seekers are coming. Furthermore, in certain countries, just the heads of families or parents are registered as asylum seekers, not all the family members. This circumstance substantially misrepresents the numbers of asylum applicants of Roma origin, because they usually have larger families. Finally, there are no other statistics available but the presented ones, which is a pity mainly for those who would like to study at least the basic structures of Roma emigrants from the Slovak Republic, i.e. the structures by age, gender, education level, family status, size of family, region of origin and so on. As is generally known, and Table 20 confirms this fact, the peaks of immigration in single countries have been depending on the accessibility of a country, restriction measures, visa policy and other factors. The first wave of Roma immigrants and asylum seekers from Slovakia hit the United Kingdom. As a result, the country introduced visa requirement. Then, the directions of Roma migrants turned to the north to Finland and Denmark. After the tightening of asylum conditions for them in these countries, they went to the Netherlands and Norway. In the last time, the most favourite target countries for Slovak Roma are Sweden, Germany, and even the Czech Republic, and over all the period it is Belgium. Though these countries have gradually applied more or less hard restrictions, Roma from Slovakia either continue to migrate to them or try to find new destination countries (e.g. in South-western Europe). As was supposed and then proven in interview No. 28, it has been chiefly a group of the most capable Roma individuals leaving Slovakia (cf. IOM 2000b). However, it is necessary to say that until now just a few persons were granted asylum abroad from among the Slovak Roma migrants; their chance to get asylum in the EU Member States is practically zero (Kolár / Mesežnikov 2002).

11 As mostly received from foreign missions under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic 12 However, the countries depicted in the table are the most favourite to immigrate by Roma from Slovakia and therefore the most attended for this purpose 36 3.4 Labour market in the Slovak Republic for foreigners The issues regarding migrants on the Slovak labour market have to be seen in the background of development on this labour market, presuppositions determining the legal framework and the current situation. An evaluation of these matters cannot be abstracted from the state on the Slovak labour market. The situation as to employment in the Slovak Republic is not much favourable. The rate of unemployment has been quite high since the establishment of Slovakia. The development of unemployment rate in the past years is shown in Graph 15. As demonstrated in th graph, the figures concerning the rate of unemployment in Slovakia do not suggest a favourable situation for employing the aliens on the Slovak labour market. On the contrary, some citizens of Slovakia are forced to look for a job abroad, either on the strength of official agreements between the Slovak Republic and respective states, besides these agreements, or in an illegal way. From the legal aspects, the questions of employing the foreigners, refugees and other migrants are resolved by the National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 387/1996 on Employment in the wording of the next amending laws, by the Labour Code (Act No. 311/2001 as amended by Act No. 210/2003) as well as by the Act No. 48/2002 on Stay of Aliens or the Act No. 480/2002 on Asylum. According to the Act No. 387/1996 on Employment, it is the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic along with the organs of the National Labour Office that regulate the employment of aliens in the territory of Slovakia and of Slovak citizens abroad. This is carried out in conformity with international agreements. These institutions set the procedure and more detailed conditions to grant permits for the employment of an alien or a person without citizenship. Thus, these authorities grant such permits on the basis of the promise of an employer to accept an alien into employment. The foreigner living with a permit in the territory of Slovakia is primarily a subject to the Act No. 48/2002 on Stay of Aliens. This legal norm defines exactly under which conditions he/she may or may not work in Slovakia. For instance, a permit for temporary stay for the purpose of business activity is based on a trade license. An alien who has been granted a permit for temporary stay for the purpose of business activity must not enter into an employment or a similar labour relation. On the other side, an alien who has been granted a permit for temporary stay for the purpose of employment must not execute business activities. A permit for temporary stay for the purpose of activities in the framework of particular programmes may be granted to those aliens performing, e.g., scientific research, lecturing and similar activities, or others. An alien with registered stay is entitled to work in Slovakia if executing economic activities, employment, or the activity of a pre-accession advisor in the framework of the integration procedure of the Slovak Republic into the European Union. An alien with a permanent stay permit in the territory of Slovakia is allowed to work on the Slovak labour market without a permit. As for an alien with a permit for tolerated stay, he/she is not allowed to execute business activities and enter into an employment relation or similar labour relation. In terms of the asylum seekers in Slovakia, they must not enter into any employment relation or a similar labour relation or do business. 37 Persons with the granted status of refugee may enter into an employment relation without a permit. A person with the status of foreign Slovak does not need a work permit. Irregular migrants have no right to work in the territory of Slovakia. Within this framework, it is evident that an employer who has a seat in the territory of Slovakia may employ an alien with temporary stay after he/she has been granted a work permit by the relevant labour office, or if he/she is granted permanent stay or the refugee status, or has the status of foreign Slovak. A permit to work is issued by the corresponding labour office for a given period, at most for the period of 1 year. An application for an employment permit may be submitted repeatedly, but always refers to the same person only. A specific, non-standard regime of employment between the residents of Slovakia and the Czech Republic is in force. It stems from the Convention No. 317/1994 between the Slovakia and the Czech Republic on Mutual employment of citizens from 1992 and the Administrative Convention No. 109/2001 between the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family in Slovakia and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in the Czech Republic to this Convention from 2001. Owing to it, persons from both countries do not apply for permits to work; they just administratively register themselves in the labour office. Table 21 illustrates the numbers of Czechs officially working in the Slovak Republic in the course of the past five years:

Table 21. Numbers of Czech residents employed in Slovakia within 1998–2002, at the end of the year Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Number 2,119 2,296 2,227 1,903 2,023 Source: NÚP 2003

In order to facilitate the employment of citizens among certain countries, international agreements were signed in this field. There exist several agreements between the Slovak Republic and some other states. Some of them are still valid, but not in operation any more. At present, bilateral agreements on employment are concluded with (Internal information of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic 2003): - Belgium (since 1937), not in operation - Czech Republic (since 1992) - Finland (since 1998), the exchange of trainees merely - France (since 1937), not in operation - Germany (since 1996, modified in 2001) - Hungary (since 1999) - Luxembourg (since 1998), the exchange of trainees merely - Poland (since 1992) - Russian Federation (since 1995) 38 - Switzerland (since 1995), the exchange of trainees merely - Ukraine (since 1997) - Vietnam (since 1994). The Slovak Republic has an interest to conclude more such agreements, particularly with countries of Western Europe (e.g. Austria, Italy, Spain, etc.), unfortunately there is not always a mutual interest. However, much should be eased by the accession of Slovakia into the EU in the next year.

Table 22. Employment permits in the Slovak Republic according to the regions as of the end of 2002 Region Applications for Obtained work Valid work work permits permits permits Bratislava 1,400 1,351 1,214 Trnava 120 112 81 Trenčín 97 97 144 Nitra 167 162 466 Žilina 183 174 172 Banská Bystrica 222 222 203 Prešov 184 177 147 Košice 378 360 267 Slovakia total 2,751 2,655 2,694 Source: Internal statistics of the National Labour Office 2003

Table 22 demonstrates figures in view of employment permits in Slovakia at the end of 2002, by single regions of the country. The difference between the obtained work permits and the valid ones is of a methodological character; the former figure means a cumulated number of permits granted from the beginning of the year, the latter indicates the momentary state as of the end of the year. This is the figure that should be taken into account for any comparisons. In this context, one may clearly identify regions where employment permits are concentrated more than elsewhere – the leading role of Bratislava is apparent. It is interesting that a correlation between these numbers for the regions and the numbers of aliens with a permit to stay for the same regions is not very tight. An overview of valid work permits with foreigners in Slovakia according to the countries of origin is depicted by Table 23. Most of the permits were granted to aliens from Germany, Ukraine, U.S.A., United Kingdom, Austria, Poland, Russia, France, and Italy (over 100 for each of them). The Western European countries represent a group of work permits for job positions for highly qualified employees; employment permits issued for aliens from Ukraine, Russia or Poland are principally for less qualified persons. It is necessary to emphasise, however, that neither foreigners with permanent stay, nor persons with the status of refugee, nor foreign Slovaks are included in these figures, since they all do not need a work permit. 39 Table 23. Top 25 countries as for foreigners with valid employment permits in Slovakia, end of 2002 State Number State Number Germany 355 Spain 54 Ukraine 297 Bulgaria 44 U.S.A. 272 The Netherlands 41 United Kingdom 187 Canada 39 Austria 121 Japan 37 Poland 119 Croatia 33 Russia 116 Romania 32 France 115 Denmark 31 Italy 102 Belgium 26 Hungary 87 FYROM 25 Lithuania 69 Sweden 23 China 68 India 21 Yugoslavia 61 other countries 319 Total 2,694 Source: Internal statistics of the National Labour Office 2003

As of the end of 2002, other some 4,400 foreigners with temporary, long-term and registered stay in the Slovak Republic (by Internal statistics of the Ministry of Interior - Section of Public Administration 2003; Internal statistics of the Office of Border and Alien Police 2003 and own calculations) doing business and thus not registered at the labour offices should be added to the above figures of 2,694 foreigners with employment permits and 2,023 administratively registered Czech nationals. As a consequence, when there are various systems of statistics, it is rather difficult to set the exact data on foreign citizens actually working or enterprising in the country. Moreover, it has to be accentuated in this place that the data shown refer purely to official employment. Hitherto significant expert or institutional studies on and estimates of the illegal work of aliens do not practically exist in Slovakia, although such a kind of work occurs also in this country, as everywhere. A few very free estimates speak about several times higher numbers of migrants illegally employed than those working legally in the country (e.g. Vrábľová 2001) or about 12% of total value added constituted by the informal sector of undocumented workers in Slovakia including aliens (Lubyová 2000). For the years to come, it may be expected that migration for work to Slovakia will be intensified. Following the accession of the country to the EU, the Slovak labour market should be more stabilised, the rate of unemployment should decrease and foreign companies will be more participating in the provision of work in the Slovak Republic. As stressed in interview No. 6, this all will have to be based on better labour (alien, migration) laws.

3.5 Attractiveness of the asylum system in Slovakia for migrants This matter is surely quite relevant in respect of Slovakia. A migrant-friendly asylum system can generate the numbers of asylum seekers and thus enhance the inflow of migrants to a country. What is the situation in this sense in the Slovak Republic? It can be interesting to confront the opinions and experience of two opposite sides: 40 The state authorities (Office of Border and Alien Police, Migration Office, some ministries – as summarised from interviews No. 1, No. 2, No. 4 and No. 6) in the country claim that the Slovak asylum system is sufficiently developed. The asylum procedure is carried out strictly by the law. In most cases, applications for asylum by migrants in Slovakia are submitted for the purpose not to be returned behind the border by the Border and Alien Police, then to wait for a moment and try to migrate further to the west. It is understood that the asylum system is misused to a great degree: only a minority of migrants wishes to actually stay in the Slovak Republic. Therefore a share of those granted asylum is minimal as well - 537 persons out of 23,018 applicants within 1992 - 2002, i.e. 2.33%. Certain perspectives from the contrary side have been provided by in-depth interviews conducted with representatives of NGOs, IGO, or migrants proper. In this place, several evaluations can be presented, first from mentioned organisations13: “Although the declared executor of the principles of state migration policy is the Migration Office, the experienced and qualified staff of NGOs and UNHCR often substitutes the staffs of state subjects and achieved results far exceed our financial and personal possibilities.” “To the drawbacks of Slovak migration policy for asylum seekers belong: the negligible granting of asylum, the low quality of language courses (e.g. especially the preparation for university study), few social workers of the Migration Office at centres, the absence of professional trainings for work with a target group.” “There exist many friction surfaces between the state and other institutions in care for asylum seekers.” And then some citations from migrants14 on these issues: “We receive few financial means for a month and we, as asylum seekers, cannot work during the asylum procedure.” “It is necessary to shorten the asylum procedure, the process lasts very long!” “I think that the quality of migration policy is weak because they grant a few asylums a year and good conditions for the life of refugees are not secured either. That is why many asylum seekers or refugees do not stay long in the Slovak Republic.” “In time I did an important decision (to apply for asylum), the competent considered my application and met it in a short time. Recently, laws have been quite changed and to be a migrant in Slovakia today is not easy.“ “Implementation of legal norms on asylum matters has large reserves in practice.“

There is no doubt that these presented opinions on the asylum conditions in the Slovak Republic are of a subjective character; nevertheless, they result from an adequate number of own or mediated experience. Although being personal, the views above suggest something about the substance and mainly about the helpfulness of the national asylum system to asylum seekers and refugees. They criticise to a high extent its certain rigidity, long terms to wait for the decision, slight absolute and relative numbers of

13 Practically, the views of all four relevant non-governmental organisations in the field in the country and UNHCR-Slovakia 14 Intentionally in order: a fresh asylum seeker, an older asylum seeker, a migrant with asylum granted, a former migrant now having Slovak citizenship, a representative of a migrants’ association also with Slovak citizenship granted 41 granted asylums, obvious social and economic problems in the integration process, the lack of more intensive assistance to refugees, etc. These are also reasons why a part of migrants, though even having been granted the status of refugee, did not stay in Slovakia and left the country. So the attractiveness of the Slovak asylum system in this context is not very high, which is a pity particularly for those migrants who actually wish to stay in the Slovak Republic. On the other side, it is true – and the statistics of the Migration Office apparently confirm it – that currently a great part of asylum seekers does not really want to stay and settle in Slovakia. They (above all originally undocumented migrants, but also those who applied for asylum as legal migrants) considerably misuse the Slovak legal norms in the field of asylum granting. They apply for the status of refugee, but do not expect the decision and try to escape from the country farther to the west. It is difficult to arbitrate unambiguously both aspects in the contemporary situation. However, a conviction can be expressed that – despite a potential risk of persisting or even rising escapes of asylum seekers from the territory of the Slovak Republic prior to the decision – the speed of decisions (i.e. asylums granted) should be increased as the first step and applications regarded more favourably. Perhaps the asylum system in Slovakia would thus become more attractive for migrants.

3.6 Trafficking and smuggling of migrants International groups of traffickers participate largely in undocumented migration and its consequences in the Slovak Republic. They offer an illegal transfer to migrants from their home country to a target country for huge financial amounts. Information gained from interview No. 1, interview No. 9 with a representative of the Indian Embassy and interviews with some migrants, too, confirms that smugglers’ organisations execute the transportation of undocumented migrants across Slovak state borders in the intervals of 3 - 5 days, whereby cases of daily unpermitted crossings are not rare either (Office of Border and Alien Police 2001 et 2002). By comparing the identified cases it is possible to state that the majority of traffickers’ actions have been successful - the number of smuggled persons is approximately three times higher than the number of apprehended ones (Nový Čas, June 17, 2003; cf. IOM 2000a). Tables 24, 25 and 26 below show some facts referring to the trafficking of migrants to and through Slovakia15:

Table 24. Trafficking in migrants across the Slovak borders during the last period Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Number of cases 34 60 60 64 117 247 Number of traffickers 42 92 94 111 242 327 Number of trafficked people 264 1,394 2,566 1,252 1,900 – Source: Office of Border and Alien Police 2002 et 2003

15 Figures in these tables may be overestimated in comparison with the contemporary statistics collected from April 2002 since the present methodology is based on charged traffickers only, not on all apprehended ones as was before 42 Table 25. Number of traffickers apprehended at the borders and in the interior of Slovakia in 2000–2001 Country Year 2000 2001 Austria 9 24 Czech Republic 21 39 Poland 2 8 Ukraine 21 59 Hungary 19 40 Interior 39 72 Total 111 242 Source: Office of Border and Alien Police 2002

Table 26. Number of undocumented migrants apprehended with traffickers at the borders and in the interior of Slovakia in 2000–2001 Country Year 2000 2001 Austria 47 235 Czech Republic 163 323 Poland 9 30 Ukraine 341 531 Hungary 265 235 Interior 427 546 Total1,252 1,900 Source: Office of Border and Alien Police 2002

As far as the citizenship of traffickers is concerned, they are mostly inhabitants of Slovakia (some 90%), the remainder comes from the Czech Republic and Ukraine. Smuggled migrants are mostly residents of Asian countries such as India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iraq, Vietnam and then those from CEE countries (Office of Border and Alien Police 2003; Csámpai / Haládik 2002). By the police, the prices for smuggling through the Slovak territory differ according to the nationality of a migrant: for instance, the Chinese have to pay 300-400 USD per person, Vietnamese from 250 to 350 USD, other Asians between 170 and 250 US dollars (Národná Obroda, June 17, 2003). Then, 60% of smuggled migrants leave the territory of Slovakia within 3 days; 30% even on the day of arrival (Vrchovský 2000). Institutionally, the fight against undocumented migration to Slovakia is ensured by the National Unit of Combating Illegal Migration that arose on April 1, 2002. Its predecessor was the Search and Information Service, both subordinated to the Office of Border and Alien Police of the Ministry of Interior in the Slovak Republic. By the very first experience, the National Unit is more flexible, quicker and more operative, which was the reason for its establishment. It is also better organised territorially and as for competencies, although it faces insufficient technical equipment, financial underestimate or partial personal inexperience – as emphasised in interview No. 3 with a representative of the National Unit of Combating Illegal Migration. The great problem is that the forms and methods of smuggling and trafficking are permanently advancing. Unpermitted crossings of the state border without a trafficker occur only rarely, traffickers work highly professionally and in a conspiratorial way co-ordinating their activities. At smuggling they apply modern traffic, communication 43 and technical means that are often not used by the police proper. They also exactly instruct migrants how to behave at police investigations and whom to contact in a respective region. It was found out (Office of Border and Alien Police 2001, 2002, 2003; IOM 2000a; Vrchovský 2000 and interview No. 3) that: - international traffickers’ organisations push out smaller local groups of smugglers and traffickers doing their job for lesser rewards; - their actions are very well planned and organised in advance; - they map the terrain, the way of borders protection and ways of patrolling by the police on a high level; - traffickers recruit for collaboration citizens living in the vicinity of the state border; - they co-operate with the local police and self-government authorities in certain cases; - traffickers often provide migrants with counterfeit visa or sham travel agency vouchers made on a high professional level. Hence, combating the trafficking and smuggling of migrants to, from and through the territory of the Slovak Republic is not an easy objective and the Office of Border Police requires more finances, technical means and deeper international collaboration with the exchange of experience and information in order to manage its tasks in this field. From the legislation viewpoint, certainly helpful to suppress the trafficking and smuggling of migrants will be its classification among the most serious offences within the Slovak Penal Code (Act No. 85/2000 amended by the Act No. 117/2003), being a subject to the “three strikes rule”, in force since September 1, 2003. The Government Resolution No. 835/2002 on Strategy of completing the protection of the state border of the Schengen type can be of high benefit, too. As far as trafficking in women and children is particularly concerned, Slovakia has not been a target country for these victims yet. But the country lies in the heart of Europe, therefore there is a supposition that this challenge will hit Slovakia increasingly. This undoubtedly very grave problem has been observed in the country to a minor degree up to now and some routes may have passed through the territory of the Slovak Republic. It is known that several women from Ukraine and Russia were trafficked to the country hitherto. Analogically, there are a few registered cases of Slovak girls trafficked abroad, but it is evident that they form merely the “tip of the iceberg”. From the beginning of 2003, IOM–Bratislava has launched a large campaign against trafficking in young women within the media and schools. Decidedly, Slovakia has to adopt stricter legal norms in this area and be incorporated into the European structures as soon as possible and effectively cooperate with all parties involved, so that trafficking in women and children does not achieve uncontrollable dimensions (based on interview No. 3, interview No. 17 with an expert–criminologist and interview No. 22 with an expert–journalist as well as on IOM–Bratislava contemporary activities; cf. UN 2001; IOM et UN 2000a). 44 4. Impact of migration movements on the subject society

4.1 Economic dimensions of migration to and from Slovakia

4.1.1 In-migration As for aliens living and working in Slovakia, as already documented above, Slovakia has the smallest stock of residents of foreign origin in Central Europe, significantly lesser than those in the neighbouring countries. Barely 0.55% of the population is not of Slovak origin (Internal statistics of the Office of Border and Alien Police 2003). Also, the number of foreigners with long-term, temporary or registered stay working legally on the Slovak labour market is quite low, especially in comparison with some other transforming economies in the region. At the end of 2002, 2,694 employment permits for foreigners with temporary, long-term or registered stay in Slovakia were issued (Internal statistics of the National Labour Office 2003). When combining the 2,023 registered employees from the Czech Republic (NÚP 2003) with this figure, it can be said that altogether over 4,700 (= 4,717) non-natives of Slovakia officially found their place on the Slovak labour market as employees. Aliens thus represent only about 0.18% (end of 2002) of labour force in Slovakia (own calculations). This is really a negligible number, from both the quantitative and qualitative aspects. Table 21 and 23 above present countries in view of the aliens with stay other than permanent employed with permits in the Slovak Republic. There is also another group of aliens – those who can be deemed entrepreneurs in Slovakia. As of the end of 2002, about 4,400 foreigners (once again those with temporary, long-term and registered stay in the Slovak Republic) were doing business in the country (Internal statistics of the Ministry of Interior - Section of Public Administration 2003; Internal statistics of the Office of Border and Alien Police 2003 and own calculations; cf. Líška / Prušová 2000). They may be added to the above figures of 2,694 persons with employment permits and 2,023 registered Czech workers in the country. It is obvious that under various systems of statistics in operation it is rather difficult to set the exact data of foreign citizens actually working or enterprising in Slovakia. Nevertheless, together approximately 9,100 non-Slovaks performed their work activities officially in the country in 2002, which makes around 0.34% of all economically active persons in the Slovak Republic (own calculations). In this context, migrants or aliens generally do not have a bigger influence on the labour force supply extent in Slovakia. However, let us remember again the very important fact that foreigners with permanent stay – i.e. 17,108 persons, individuals with the status of refugee – 438 persons, or foreign Slovaks are not included in these statistics since they do not need a work permit and therefore are not registered so the real number of oficially working aliens in Slovakia is definitely much higher. The figures of employment permits, registered job positions or enterprising persons are actually quite low, almost unimaginably. Moreover, when the number of aliens living in the Slovak Republic within a certain category of permitted stays according to the Act No. 48/2002 on Stay of Aliens on the one side and the number of aliens working in Slovakia with a permit on the other side are compared to each other, there are huge disproportions with many nationalities (although taking into consideration the potential age structure of foreigners and the numbers of studying and otherwise not working nor enterprising persons). This statement refers most to aliens from Ukraine, Yugoslavia, 45 Poland, Vietnam, China, Hungary and Romania. It suggests that a number of persons particularly, but not only, of these nationalities work in Slovakia in an unofficial way. What are the main professions which foreigners in Slovakia are engaged in? Most of the aliens from Western European countries work in Slovakia as high-skilled employees in professions as manager of an industrial company, expert in a branch of the tertiary sector, lecturer at school or university, consultant, representative and in similar positions. Their work requires skilled and experienced persons, is mostly temporary (e.g. for one year) and concentrated into the largest Slovak cities (Bratislava, Košice, some others). Of course, such work is a welcome contribution to Slovak economy, but because of their low numbers it is a burdensome task to appraise it appropriately. Aliens coming from countries of the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Asia are employed often as small entrepreneurs, retailers, vendors, construction or industrial workers (in weakly paid branches - textile and cloth industry, shoe industry, food industry and the like), agricultural workers, auxiliary workers. There are differences within this group: the Ukrainians and Poles prefer working in industry and constructions (cf. Kostolná / Hanzelová 1996), the Asians prefer more retailing and gastronomy, the Balkan nationalities rather entrepreneurship (cf. Salt 2000). The contribution to national economy is again hardly expressible owing to the lack of any well-founded studies, surveys or estimates and may thus remain on a narrative level. There is really an urgent need for systematic research and surveys dealing with the impacts of economic migration on Slovak economy. A study elaborated by Williams / Baláž / Kollár (2001) should be mentioned here, in which the authors tried to partly evaluate some effects of the economic immigration of labour migrants from Ukraine. A total of 150 Ukrainians commuting to work to the both Slovak and Czech Republics were interviewed about their economic backgrounds, current employment, use of savings, and future plans. It was ascertained that Ukrainian labour migrants to Slovakia are above all of young age, educationally heterogeneous, with more females among them than expected. They are predominantly from urban areas, especially from the cities of Uzhgorod and Mukachevo. Only 20% come from lesser villages. Just 21% of Ukrainian commuters work in adjacent Eastern Slovakia reflecting thus the unemployment situation in the Slovak Republic; most of them work in Bratislava, followed by larger centres in West and Central Slovakia. Out of the total number of Ukrainian labour migrants to Slovakia, only 24% are daily or weekly commuters. Some data on these migrants are contained in Table 27.

Table 27. Socio-demographic characteristics of Ukrainian labour migrants to Slovakia and the Czech Republic, end of the 1990s Gender In % Age In % Education In % Command of host In % country language males 58 -24 29 basic and 39 no 4 25-35 34 lower middle few words 18 females 42 36-45 23 higher middle 21 can communicate 32 46+ 15 university 40 fluent 46 Source: Williams / Baláž / Kollár 2001

Ukrainian labour migrants are largely employed as low-skilled workers. Although many of them enjoyed a high social status at home, the share of those employed as professionals in Slovakia is drastically lower. Deskilling is also apparent in the sectoral 46 distribution of employment, so that they represent unused human capital. Terminologically, this has typical features of brain waste under these conditions. Almost 2/3 acquired their jobs with the help of friends and relatives. Wages received are lower than average Slovak ones but still very favourable comparing to those in Ukraine. Most Ukrainians (55%) allocate the major part of their earnings to meet their own and family essential requirements; the extent of savings for the future is minimal (Williams / Baláž / Kollár 2001).

The illegally employed in the Slovak Republic. Sizably free estimates of the proportions of aliens illegally employed in the Slovak Republic speak about several times higher numbers of these migrants than those legally employed (e.g. Vrábľová 2001; estimates of the National Labour Office). However, these estimates are just of a presupposing nature and no more exact surveys have been performed up to now. Some empirical information corroborated within interviews No. 5, No. 12 and No. 13 suggests that notably a great number of Ukrainians, Poles, the Balkans nationals, Vietnamese or Chinese work without a permit in the territory of Slovak Republic (cf. Lubyová / Ochranková / Vantuch 1999). It is very difficult to discover such activities since the majority of those working illegally come to Slovakia as tourists, or even cross the borders illegally. The workers without a permit in Slovakia are most often employed in construction industry, then in areas such as retail, services, textile, cloth, shoe and food industries, forestry and agriculture, auxiliary works. Id est, in economical branches with a need for low-skilled workers. Chiefly, the profession of bricklayer with men and the profession of sewer with women can be mentioned here. As regards the size of firms, in which workers are employed illegally, little units with a total of up to 20 employees prevail (Vrábľová 2001). The control of illegal work is executed by organs of labour authorities and the police in the country. Results of a research pointed out a remarkable fact that the illegal employment of aliens is largely supported by interests of Slovak employers proper to engage cheap labour force (Kostolná / Hanzelová 1996). Although such employers face tremendous financial sanctions for that and the illegal workers are subject to fines, entry and residence ban, or expulsion from Slovakia, the degree of risk is negligible. In 2002, the National Labour Office realised 1,804 control actions in association with the illegal employment of foreigners in the country. During the controls, 84 persons from abroad were detected working at variance with valid legal norms in the Slovak Republic, i.e. illegally (NÚP 2003). Besides, inspectors from the National Labour Inspectorate found merely 6 foreigners working without an employment permit in Slovak companies (NIP 2003). No doubt these figures are extremely below the significance of the problem.

The work of migrants in the Slovak Republic is in principle welcome and contributional. They help fill in some gaps on the markets in Slovak regions and in branches that are not much preferred by the autochthonous population. Nevertheless, in cases particularly concerning illegal work – these persons as well as their employers commit economic or criminal offences, because they do not pay taxes, social and health insurances, do not follow other working duties, smuggle the goods, exploit workers, etc. Estimating the contributions of legal (or illegal) work of immigrants to Slovak society is a quite difficult task. Any attempt to analyse labour migration in the region of Central 47 and Eastern Europe is still constrained by the limited extent and nature of data available (IOM et ICMPD 2002). Notwithstanding, the numbers of legal workers in Slovakia do not reach a significant volume yet. Even when considering the potential extent of irregular migrants’ work, it probably does not achieve a too high level - currently. However, it will certainly be more important in the years to come when Slovakia should economically advance within the EU and be thus more attractive for foreign permitted or unpermitted labour migrants.

4.1.2 Out-migration Labour migration in the Slovak Republic is a result of the integration of the country into international economic and political structures as well as of a situation on the labour market. In general, the labour migration of Slovaks abroad may be divided into three elementary modes (Rievajová 2001): - long-term employment (a year or more) in foreign countries; - regular commuting to work abroad; - short-term or seasonal works. It is impossible to exactly quantify the total number of Slovak citizens working abroad. But some indicative numbers given mostly by the National Labour Office in Slovakia will be presented below. Among the cardinal reasons for labour emigration are predominantly: disparity on the level of earnings,16 differences in the living standard and the high rate of unemployment in the country. From the establishment of the Slovak Republic, migration abroad has had almost entirely a character of labour migration. On the average, it accounts for around 100 thousand persons with work permits annually.17 Some further tens of thousands persons who work abroad illegally may be added to this figure. A special position among those working abroad have the so-called “pendlers”18 – persons commuting to work abroad regularly (daily or weekly). They take advantage of different price levels between Slovakia and the corresponding country. However, this happens at the expense of transport costs and time spent in a travel means (in certain cases over 3 hours daily). By data from the census taken in Slovakia in 2001, there are 17.7 thousand persons commuting to work from the Slovak Republic abroad per day – mostly to Austria and the Czech Republic (ŠÚ SR 2002). The citizens of the Slovak Republic represent a particular category of foreigners on the labour market of the Czech Republic and vice versa. The number of Slovak residents on the Czech labour market and the number of Czechs on the Slovak labour market are not restricted by law. As already depicted, the mutual employment of inhabitants is based on the Convention No. 317/1994 between Slovakia and the Czech Republic on Mutual employment of citizens from 1992 and Administrative Convention No. 109/2001 from 2001 to it. In conformity with these legal norms, inhabitants of either republic wishing to work are only obliged to register themselves at a respective district labour office in the second country. They only need confirmation about a work relation from an employer. Registration means to deliver a filled-in registration card with required fundamental data. During the period of employment a resident from either state has the right of stay in the second country.

16 Usually, the ratio 10:1 to the detriment of Slovak earnings is given, owing to a difference in currencies (e.g. Rievajová 2002) 17 Approximate information from the National Labour Office and own calculations 18 An integration of a German term into the Slovak language 48 Owing to these circumstances, the influx of Slovak labour force to the Czech labour market is guided only by demand and supply. The number of Slovak workers in Czech Republic is gradually dropping (Horáková 2001 – see Table 28) due to the rising unemployment rate in the country, a partial saturation of the labour market in view of labour force from Slovakia, the outflow from registered positions to non-registered ones, etc. Currently, some 60.000 Slovaks work in the Czech Republic officially in a long-term way annually. The peak was in 1996 – 72.000 persons. Of course, the Czech Republic is also a country where most of the Slovak citizens work unofficially, without registration. Geographically, Slovak workers are concentrated mostly in Prague, north-Moravian industrial districts and south- Moravian districts adjacent to Slovakia (ČSÚ 2001). Table 28 demonstrates the quantitative development of Slovak workers employed on the labour market of the Czech Republic:

Table 28. Development in the numbers of Slovaks employed in the Czech Republic in 1994–2002 Year 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Number 39,209 59,323 72,244 69,723 61,320 53,154 63,567 63,555 56,558 Source: Horáková 2001; NÚP 2003 As regards the labour migration of Slovak inhabitants to Austria, it is very attractive for them. Rather intensive is regular commuting to work there. A few studies have dealt with particularities of such Slovak-Austrian labour commuting up to now. It has a daily or weekly character. In contradistinction to most other European work migrations, this one is of an urban-urban nature chiefly. Thus, the majority of Slovaks working in Austria come from Bratislava and its suburban vicinity, only 13% are from rural areas (Williams / Baláž / Kollár 2001). The little geographic distance and good communications facilitate commuting between the two major metropolitan regions of Austria and Slovakia. As the most developed region in Slovakia and the prime centre of higher education, Bratislava has a substantial pool of skilled labour force. This all provides highly specific transborder economic conditions that are seldom replicated elsewhere at a meeting point between the once colliding European economic systems (ibidem; Kollár 2000). The number of Slovak citizens officially employed in Austria, i.e. with Austrian work permits, oscillated around 5,000 in 2002 (Internal statistics of Arbeitsmarktservice 2003). The extent of work on the black/gray market should be much larger (own estimates). The demographic, social and professional structures of Slovak migrants reflect the outlined circumstances.

Table 29. Demographic structure of Slovak commuters and their idea of the intended work length in Austria (all data given in per cent) Together up to 3 years 3-10 years over 10 years GENDER men 72.9 20.6 17.8 61.6 women 27.1 41.8 9.0 49.2 AGE under 26 27.5 44.1 7.4 48.5 26-35 27.5 17.8 21.9 60.3 36-45 29.6 17.6 22.1 60.3 over 45 15.4 26.3 5.3 68.4 Total100.0 26.3 15.4 58.3 Source: Kollár 2000 49 Several consequences result from the data in Table 29 and from other findings not presented here. The younger a migrant is, the shorter he/she wishes to work in Austria. Women prefer working for a shorter period than men do (Kollár 2000). Women earn statistically less than men. But it is also true that the lesser migrants earn, the shorter they intend to work in Austria. Those who work in Austria with a permit have intention to work there for a longer period of time; on the contrary, those without a permit deem their employment to be a short-term matter. Table 30 brings information on the social-labour status of Slovak workers in Austria:

Table 30. Last employment carried out in Slovakia and the contemporary one in Austria Employment Work performed in Austria in Slovakia auxiliary work special work highly-skilled work without qualification 100.0 - - special work 29.3 70.7 - highly skilled 7.0 18.3 74.7 Source: Kollár 2000

The figures from Table 30 do not suggest a typical pattern of (labour) migrants world- wide, i.e. that the acceptance of a less valuable job - not corresponding to the qualification of a migrant - is a logical sacrifice for incorporation in the labour market of the host country. The case of Slovak migrants in Austria is opposite: the degree of dequalification is minimal and they do not have to take up a marginal position. However, it has to be accentuated that 2/3 of the Slovak commuters worked lastly in the tertiary sector and this fact enables them to stand better within labour competition in Austria (Kollár 2002). They are also not forced to accept the first occupation they meet. They can search for a more appropriate one in a longer time because of the relative non- existence of housing problems - for they dwell not far beyond the border. So they can keep their housing, family and social relations, insurance and so on (sometimes even their original job!) in Slovakia. On the other side, one may partly speak of brain drain in this context. The third country relevant to the labour migration of Slovak citizens is Germany. The development of documented work positions according to the two fundamental work period modalities in the past years is illustrated in Table 31:

Table 31. Development in the number of Slovak citizens working in Germany between 1997–2002 Form Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 short-term/seasonal employment 5,288 5,365 6,155 8,151 10,191 10,984 long-term employment 535 486 713 914 850 848 Source: Internal statistics of the National Labour Office 2003

The figures referring to short-term employment constitute cumulated numbers throughout a given year. Germany is in general situated not far from Slovakia, offers good opportunities on its labour market and does not form a particular issue from the linguistic viewpoint, therefore the country is also much favoured by Slovak residents 50 wishing to be employed abroad. There are some data on jobs that Slovak citizens perform in Germany (NÚP 2003). Both long-term and seasonal employment was represented mostly by positions in gastronomy, health services, building industry, food industry, agriculture. For the first time, the German labour market opened officially for Slovak experts in the sphere of information technologies (6 persons in 2002). Out of other countries where Slovak nationals migrated for work in 2002, these were still of importance: Hungary, where 1,244 long-term and 193 seasonal jobs were mediated (principally in engineering, textile and food industries) especially for people from South- Slovak border regions; and Switzerland with 114 positions in gastronomy and health services (NÚP 2003). All other countries, some probably with higher numbers of Slovak labour migrants, were not statistically observed by the National Labour Office or another institution. In literature, only one mention on probable remittances of Slovak labour migrants may be found (Williams / Baláž / Kollár 2001). Slovak workers from Austria report relatively low earnings in their previous jobs: 51% earned less than USD 180 per month, just very few (13%) earned over 270 USD. Their current earnings in Austria reach with 13% less than 570 USD per month, with 42% 570-1,140 USD, and the rest earns more than this value. The difference is apparent. Additionally, Slovak men significantly earn more than women, which is nevertheless fully in relation to their qualificational and educational levels.

Summarising some data demonstrated and other information gained, one may arrive at the following conclusions: The migration of Slovak citizens for work abroad forms an important economic and social phenomenon from several aspects. Firstly, it helps resolve a tense situation on the labour market of Slovakia where the rate of unemployment is still quite high and labour opportunities, especially in marginal regions of the state, are limited. An uneven economic development of the country thus encourages certain citizens to search for a job abroad. Labour emigration also participates in improving the social situation in the country. Benefits from employment abroad, notably financial means brought to the country, make the living standard of Slovak workers and their families higher. Not negligible are the next contributions; for example, cultural and language experience, knowledge or career opportunities enriching the personal potential of respective migrants. Briefly, those who return from abroad bring with them capital, experience and knowledge. On the other hand, a larger migration of Slovak natives abroad might cause certain problems in the demographic structure of the population and have negative impacts on the economic and social system in the country. The contemporary migration situation in terms of labour migration to or from the Slovak Republic does not form a sufficient basis for qualified estimates of labour migration development in the country. As already emphasised above, it is hardly possible to exactly quantify the total number of Slovak citizens working abroad when not many reliable data are available. Thus, by very rough estimates, around 100,000 Slovaks work abroad officially (with permits) in a year; the number of those working abroad illegally is certainly higher. In general, much will depend on legal norms prepared now and passed later following the accession of Slovakia into the EU, above all after cancelling regulation measures and transitional periods to establish an actual free movement of persons. 51 4.1.3 Migration potential from the Slovak Republic Some studies have recently examined the migration potential of Slovak residents. It may be interesting to compare their findings. In 1998, the International Organisation for Migration published a study entitled Migration Potential in Central and Eastern Europe as a quite relevant work evaluating the migration potentials of 11 countries in the CEE region. According to it, the general migration potential from Slovakia is rather high. But the majority of respondents wished to migrate for work only for a few weeks (56%) or months (47%). Just 27% were interested in going abroad for a few years and merely 10% in permanent emigration from the country. Thus, the number of potential long-term migrants from Slovakia was relatively low. It seems that Slovaks prefer working across the border to moving outside permanently. The main target countries for labour became Germany (17%) and Austria (8%), followed by the Czech Republic and the New World. 64% of the respondents gave economic conditions as the essential reason to migrate. In view of pull factors, the living standard and wage levels dominated. This study confirmed the profile of a Slovak migrant as follows: male (in ratio of 65 : 47 when comparing both genders), young (82 : 31 when comparing the age categories of 18-19 and over 60, respectively), educated (64 : 42 when comparing university and elementary education, respectively). In conclusion, young well-educated males with intention to migrate to neighbouring countries for a short period would like to go abroad from Slovakia as labour migrants. Nearly the same findings are presented in another study by Wallace and Haerpfer (2001). The migration potential of inhabitants of Slovakia is here evaluated on the strength of preceding results, but also taking into account various backgrounds - such as global migration developments, relations between the Slovak and Czech Republics, the protection of borders, opportunities for potential migrants at home and the like. The authors argue that labour migration is plainly age-, gender- and education-specific and conclude that a mass outflow of migrants from Slovakia is not probable once the country joins the EU. Valuable views, analyses and estimates of (labour) migration could be also found in, for instance, the book New Challenges for Migration Policy in Central and Eastern Europe (IOM et ICMPD 2002). Here, the share of potential migrants (as the general willingness to emigrate) from Slovakia is assessed at 17.7% in the population aged over 14, but the actual migration potential (as the actual intention and preparations already undertaken) merely at 2.1% of these residents thus achieving 85,000 persons. In the past years (1997-1999), the Institute of Public Affairs along with FOCUS Agency conducted a series of sociological researches on the potential emigration of (young) people from Slovakia (Marošiová / Gyárfášová / Velšic 2000). They ascertained that out of a sample of respondents – residents of the Slovak Republic - 13% wish to migrate, mostly for work. The typical profile of a migrant is a single man rather than a woman (in ratio of 15 : 12), those mostly completed secondary education and now being students, then followed by creative workers. The majority of persons willing to emigrate are at the age of 18-30 (1/4 of respondents) and from large urban agglomerations. In total 72% of the interviewed considering emigration have negative feelings about the country’s economy. As given by Fassmann and Hintermann (1997) in a more extensive study, the crucial motivation of more than 90% of Czechs, Slovaks, Poles and Hungarians intending to work abroad is “to earn more money”. Besides a rather detailed characterisation of potential migrants from Central Europe by various parameters, they come up with 52 concepts of general, probable and real migration potential. For Slovakia they estimate these potentials at 30.3%, 17.7% and 2.2% of the population over 14, respectively. The last figure thus makes approximately 90 thousand persons. In 1997, the European co-operation in the field of scientific and technical research - COST published a study called Brain Drain from Central and Eastern Europe (COST 1997). The study examines the situation from the mentioned aspect in 10 countries of the region, including brain drain from Slovakia. The cardinal results are as follows: During 1989-1995, 11.3% of those quitting the science sector left the country to work abroad in science and research. Based on a sample of 939 cases, Slovak brain drain was directed to the Czech Republic, U.S.A. and Germany (23.8%, 20.8% and 7.5%, respectively). Emigration affected especially the natural sciences (71%), social ones (18%) and technical ones (11%). Then, out of potential migrants (a sample of 932 respondents) over 25% expressed intention to go abroad in the nearest future. The most preferred countries of destination for them were the U.S.A. (12%), Germany (11.3%), Austria (5.1%) and United Kingdom (4.7%). The majority of respondents wished to stay abroad for a period of 1-3 years. The most pronounced pull factors were professional satisfaction, scientific independence and the availability of scientific information; job security and financial benefits were less important (cf. similar findings in Kúska / Gyárfášová 1997; Kúska 1996; Bolfíková 1994; Rhode 1993). The main conclusions of the survey have been that transition to a market economy and international research exchange opportunities gradually reduced the emigration rate of scientists from Eastern Europe in the 1990s. On the other hand, the outflow of relatively young and highly qualified scientists will continue and any administrative measures against it are unrealistic. Perhaps the most representative outcomes are provided by a series of research reports International Mobility of Labour Force in Slovakia under the Conditions of its Integration into the EU (Líška / Prušová / Srnánková 2001a; Líška / Prušová / Srnánková 2001b; Gergelová / Líška / Prušová 2002) elaborated by the Research Institute of Labour, Social Affairs and Family in Bratislava. The principal objective of the research was to evaluate the attitudes of Slovak citizens to work abroad and to discuss on the possible social and political consequences of labour emigration from the country. The interviewed sample consisted of 1,400 persons at the age of 18–64. A statistical analysis shows that men think of departure from Slovakia to work abroad significantly more than women do (38% to 27%). Nationality or educational level was not manifested in a different way in deliberations to migrate for a period over 1 month. Some differences are evident from the regional aspect: the most inclined to departure are residents of the Košice region, the least those from the Nitra region. On the other side, the age is a crucial factor as seen in Table 32:

Table 32. Modalities to the question: “Do you intend to migrate for work abroad?” by age of respondents (in %) Answer Age categories Total 18-24 25-39 40-54 55-64 Yes54.6 37.6 24.0 11.1 32.9 No 32.2 53.5 67.1 80.9 57.4 Does not know 13.2 8.9 8.9 8.0 9.6 Total100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Source: Gergelová / Líška / Prušová 2002 53 On the basis of results, it may be assumed that each third citizen of Slovakia considers a possibility to migrate for work abroad for longer than 1 month; over 57% do not have this intention. In case of Slovakia’s accession to the European Union and the free movement of persons therein, interest to work in the countries of EU will be even higher, i.e. 47% as demonstrated by Table 33.

Table 33. Modalities to the question: “Would you intend to work abroad in case the Slovak Republic becomes a Member State of the EU?”, by age of respondents (in %) Answer Age categories Total 18-24 25-39 40-54 55-64 Certainly Yes 35.5 24.3 15.2 8.6 21.4 Probably Yes 35.9 29.6 20.2 11.1 25.3 Probably No 16.8 25.2 27.9 21.6 24.1 Certainly No 4.4 15.2 29.1 55.6 22.8 Does not know 7.3 5.7 7.5 3.1 6.4 Total100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Source: Gergelová / Líška / Prušová 2002

The concrete target countries of labour migration for Slovak citizens are presented in Table 34. Not surprising is the fact that Germany is the most preferred for labour migration, followed by Austria, New World countries (U.S.A., Canada, Australia) and the Czech Republic. With the exception of the New World, with traditions of emigration from Slovakia, other selected countries represent a near destination with potential frequent travelling to and from the motherland.

Table 34. The most preferred target countries for Slovaks to work abroad Country Share* Czech Republic 20.6 Austria 26.2 Switzerland 8.0 France 4.1 United Kingdom 13.7 Germany 38.4 Hungary 4.1 Italy 11.1 New World countries 25.4 others 6.1 without response 1.1 * = several countries applicable Source: Gergelová / Líška / Prušová 2002

Without any doubt, the prevailing intention of Slovak citizens migrating abroad is for labour. Right because of this, some 88% of respondents plan their stay abroad. However, 54 motivations are differentiated. An overview of push and pull factors is presented in Table 35.

Table 35. Push and pull factors motivating the citizens of Slovakia to migrate abroad Push and pull factors Index* PUSH FACTORS I do not like the overall societal climate in Slovakia 0.59 No opportunity to find a job at home 0.52 I do not feel safe in Slovakia 0.25 PULL FACTORS I have opportunity to earn more abroad 0.88 I want to advance in foreign languages 0.66 I want to improve my skills and gain experience 0.58 I want to experience something new, culture, nature 0.53 I want to live in a more developed country 0.52 My professional skills will be better appreciated 0.50 I want to attend relatives or friends abroad 0.34 * = Index may vary between 0.00 and 1.00. The highest index level (=1.00) means the highest intensity of factor impact Source: Gergelová / Líška / Prušová 2002

It is interesting to know the attitude of respondents toward the acceptance of illegal work abroad. As many as 68% of them would wish to be employed legally, but over 30% would accept also illegal work abroad. Among the reasons could be possibly the low living standard, high level of acceptance of illegal work, great differences between wages in Slovakia and target migration countries as well as the high level of acceptation of illegal work by Slovak citizens also at home. The social structure of respondents influences the score, too. As is clear from Table 36, Slovak students form a group of respondents that is the most prepared to migrate for work for a period longer than one month. This was to be expected; they are the most flexible, well commanding foreign languages, at the beginning of their professional career, wishing strongly to obtain experience. The position of the unemployed is also understandable, as people without both sufficient financial means and employment desire to change their situation. However, the majority of the unemployed does not intend to migrate, as the majority of entrepreneurs either, although their shares here are quite high:

Table 36. Structure of respondents according to their profession or social status for the planned duration of stay abroad over 1 month Profession of respondents Answer Total student entrepreneur employed unemployed dependant pensioner other Yes71.4 39.1 28.2 42.6 18.8 10.7 43.8 32.5 No 19.8 49.4 61.6 44.9 75.0 77.7 43.8 56.9 Does 8.8 11.5 10.2 12.5 6.3 11.6 12.5 10.6 not know Total100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Source: Gergelová / Líška / Prušová 2002 55 On the basis of the research findings and their generalisation, one may arrive at the following conclusions: • A tendency to the foreign mobility of Slovak citizens is high: every third resident of the Slovak Republic considers future migration abroad for a period over 1 month. However, there is an obvious orientation to temporary stay and the most preferred duration is between 1 month and 1 year. • The most frequent reason to migrate for Slovak citizens is work. • Accession of the Slovak Republic into the European Union and a later possibility of the free movement of labour force within its limits will entail an increased interest of Slovak citizens to be employed in a Member Country. • Among the countries, the most preferred as target ones for work migration are Germany and Austria. • Economic motives dominate among the stimuli to labour migration (i.e. higher earnings, the lack of labour opportunities at home). Besides, a marked position is represented by incentives aiming at skill self-improvement and language advancement. • The highest interest to work abroad is typical of the young generation and decreases with higher age categories, or in the case of women. • The most relevant source of information on the conditions of employment abroad consists of relatives, friends and acquaintances living in Slovakia or abroad. Labour offices are in this context relatively weakly utilised.

As depicted above, the general migration potential of Slovak citizens, especially for work, varies according to several recent researches and estimates between 1/4 and 1/3 of the economically active population in the country. These are, however, very rough estimates. Virtually, it is a great difference between to wish, to be able and to be allowed. Therefore, the fact that at most 10% of economically active persons in the Slovak Republic could potentially try to find their position on a European labour market - as stressed in interview No. 12 - seems to be more realistic. This number thus might account for at maximum 270,000 labour migrants from the country. The real migration potential is, notwithstanding, much lower. Based on the presented studies by IOM / ICMPD (2002), Fassmann / Hintermann (1997) and own estimates, this potential does not exceed approximately 100,000 economically active persons (long-term emigrants), moreover distributed in a longer time interval. However, the high degree of adaptiveness of Slovaks does not form an optimistic framework to reduce their potential migration and its decrease is conditioned mainly by improving the economic situation in the country. In this connection, once the Slovak Republic is a Member State of the EU, foreign companies will act more intensively in the territory of Slovakia. This might lead to rising the supply of work, to enhancing the employment opportunities and thus have positive impacts on the Slovak labour market. 56 4.2 Non-economic effects of migration

4.2.1 Demographic impacts of immigration The apprehended irregular migrants in the Slovak Republic are either placed at the detention centres and then sent out of the country, or they apply for asylum and then stay most of the time at the refugee centres. Practically, there are few personal contacts between them and the autochthonous population. Hence, there cannot be any important demographic effects on the Slovak population through these categories of migrants. The number of persons with the granted status of refugee in Slovakia is quite low. There exist merely several individual demographic events like the marriage of a Slovak native with a refugee and the birth of a child as reported by Letavajová (2001a; cf. ZAS 2002). The number of persons in the last category of aliens nowadays living among the Slovaks (i.e. foreigners with the different permitted kinds of stay) – 29,505 persons - does not achieve a significant level in the Slovak Republic in comparison with the number of the total population (0.55%). Out of these almost 30 thousands individuals, the number of permitted stays chiefly for the purpose of family reunification is less than 14,000 (Internal statistics of the Office of Border and Alien Police 2003). It is apparent that some further thousands of stays that are permitted primarily for entrepreneurship, employment or study have to be added to the presented figure of stays for the reunification of family. This means that over half the aliens with permitted stays in Slovakia have family or partnership relations in the country (own estimate). Nevertheless, it is hardly possible to make a more exact estimate of children issuing out of these relations, for example. Certainly, against the background of overall reproductive processes in Slovakia this number does not represent a relevant share. For illustration, the proportion of women of non-Slovak origin having delivered a child in 2002 made no more than 0.1% out of all such women in Slovakia reaching only 43 reported live births in that year (ÚZIŠ 2003). Hence, just hardly perceptible demographic effects on Slovak society can be supposed since these aliens are not numerous in general and have no particularly high fertility rate. It may be concluded that the processes of ageing and decreasing are already evident in the Slovak population too, like in the populations of Western European countries. The migration of people from less developed countries to more developed ones is a global trend which Slovakia has started to face recently. According to some prognostic studies (e.g. by Vaňo 2002; Zajac 2002b), it is assumed that in the future the migration balance of the Slovak Republic will be influenced to a greater extent by migrants from the developing countries. It is expected that the more economically favourable the situation will be in Slovakia, the more the numbers of immigrants will grow. In turn, this may change the demographic situation in the country as regards the effects of immigration on the overall population. However, currently, one cannot speak about special demographic impacts of immigration on Slovak society at all.

4.2.2 Educational system and migrants Since the official statistics from the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic do not differ between the single categories of migrants, the data shown below are without such a specification. 57 The Slovak Republic has been a favourite study destination for students from abroad over the past decades. From the beginning of the 1990s on, the number of foreign students has been decreasing - mainly of those studying at universities. On the contrary, the numbers of students in elementary and secondary schools slowly rise along with the numbers of aliens (living in Slovakia on the basis of the Act on Aliens) and children they have with Slovaks or between themselves. The number of children – students whose parents are asylum seekers or refugees – is actually negligible, when considering the numbers and gender structure of refugees or the duration of stay and gender structure again of asylum applicants in the country. Table 37 demonstrates the numbers of students - Slovak non-natives according to various state, private and clerical schools in the country in the recent period:

Table 37. Pupils and students of non-Slovak origin in the various types of schools in Slovakia in 2001–2003 Pupils and students at schools School kinder- elemen- voca- secon- high univer PhD. year Total gartens tary tional dary -sities level 2001/2 217 990 91 103 179 1,525 110 3,215 2002/3 192 978 60 139 164 1,533 106 3,172 Source: UIPŠ 2003

If these figures are compared with those representing all respective students in the country, one can see that the shares of non-Slovak pupils range between 0.1-0.3% in the different types of schools. The only exception are universities where the proportion of foreign students exceeds 1.5% (UIPŠ 2003). It may be stated that the situation in the educational system in Slovakia in terms of migrants is quite favourable from the budgetary viewpoint: the share of foreign pupils is rather low not much burdening public finances; on the contrary, foreign students at universities pay for their studies. On the other side, from the aspect of upbringing the native students to the presence of aliens, to mutual tolerance, to a multicultural society, the Slovak Republic is substantially behind already but not only for the above outlined, numerical reason.

4.2.3 Health of migrants to Slovakia The health state of migrants in the Slovak Republic, either regular or irregular ones, is a particular and sensitive matter. It is understandable that people coming from various parts of the world, from countries with different health care and having experienced the great sufferings and maltreatment on a long and dangerous journey, often bring some health problems with them. On the other side, aliens living in Slovakia for a long time and sometimes coming from even more developed countries may be quite fit in view of their health. Thus, there have to be huge differences as to the health of individual groups of migrants. The worst situation is with undocumented migrants. After their apprehension, they get to the detention centres of the Border and Alien Police at Medveďov or Sečovce, where they are subjected to a comprehensive medical examination by doctors on duty who work there. Therefore, quite detailed statistics on their health exist. Certain 58 characteristics concerning the treatments and discovered diseases of migrants are provided in Table 38:

Table 38. Medical interventions performed, costs of treatment paid out and diseases found in migrants placed to the detention centre of Medveďov in 2000–2002 Characteristics Year 2000 2001 2002 overall treatments 9,295 10,027 12,423 scabies 103 125 185 infections of respiratory system 273* 432 570 infections of urinary system 60* 37 84 skin diseases 152* 307 287 other infectious diseases 105* 225 223 abdomen diseases 151* 275 260 hospitalisations 4 7 0 costs of treatments and examinations outside 141 183 65 the centre (in thous. SK) costs of medicaments and medical material 71 206 195 (in thous. SK) * = since April 2000 Source: Internal data from MUDr. M. Andruchová, doctor on duty at the detention centre at Medveďov 2003

It has to be accentuated that above all skin diseases and infections of the respiratory system are the most frequent with undocumented migrants. Out of the infections of the respiratory system pneumonia should be mentioned, but tuberculosis is not infrequent either. Its treatment is extremely expensive. Separately registered is scabies. Although the numbers of undocumented migrants examined and treated still grow, financial means determined for their treatment remain on the same level for five years. Moreover, the vaccination of children is for free. The financial covering of medical care for these migrants is thus seen as a big challenge for the future.19 A similar situation is at the detention centre of Sečovce as for the structure of diseases, only the quantitative data are lesser because of the lower number of apprehended undocumented migrants placed there. The irregular migrants are the most vulnerable group of migrants. The situation with asylum seekers in Slovakia is already better, also due to the fact that many of them underwent an examination or treatment at one of the aforesaid detention centres where they sometimes received even the first complex medical care in their life. This enables to have only nurses on duty at the reception refugee centres for asylum applicants; in case of need the patients visit a local doctor. In general, when being under the quarantine at a reception centre, the asylum applicant is obliged to go through a medical examination and quarantine measures for a period of at most 1 month. Within an entry medical screening, blood tests for the identification of infectious diseases and liver affections, a roentgen of lungs, a test for sexually transmitted diseases and other tests are made for each applicant. In case of necessity, a treatment is prescribed. Special

19 By Z. Brucháčová, Department of Social Care and Health Services of the Ministry of Interior in the Slovak Republic, in verb, May 2003 59 care is devoted to pregnant women and women with children. As the Migration Office claims, many countries with a long-term asylum tradition do not realise quarantine measures to such a degree as are those carried out at the reception centres of the Migration Office for asylum seekers in the territory of Slovakia (Internal documents of the Migration Office 2003). The migrants are also tested for HIV at the refugee centres. Although the absolute numbers are low, the incidence of HIV positive migrants in the total of new cases of HIV in the country in the last years is remarkable – Table 39:

Table 39. Epidemiological situation in the incidence of HIV in Slovakia within 1999–2002 Year HIV+ persons total Out of it migrants Migrants’ share in total 1999 6 2 33.3 2000 26 6 23.1 2001 17 5 29.4 2002 22 9 40.9 Source: Internal information of the Institute of Preventive and Clinical Medicine 2003 and own calculations

Finally, the health situation of refugees and aliens permitted to stay in the territory of Slovakia is already similar to that of native citizens in the country. They are treated by doctors in the place of residence or work. No medical specificities have been observed in this group of foreigners. For instance, in 2002, the share of hospitalised aliens in the total number of hospitalised persons in the Slovak Republic was merely 0.19% (with an average treatment duration of 5 days - ÚZIŠ 2003) at the proportion of foreigners making slightly over 0.5% in the total population of the country. Migrants feel sometimes guilty because they are often perceived as abusers of the national welfare system. They are not seldom left out of access to health services when being in receiving countries. This is, however, not the case in the Slovak Republic, though not all is perfect in the area.

4.2.4 Socio-pathological phenomena among the non-natives This could be a quite interesting subtopic supposing that people who suffered much during their journey maybe from Asia to a Central European country were exposed to stress, maltreatment and problems resulting from how to organise their next way or life in general, how to avoid the police, where to pick up food, water, clothing and the like. Similarly, one might expect a multiplied occurrence of socio-pathological phenomena with those migrants who have to wait in uncertainty for the decision on their applications for asylum, or who spent a long time in Slovakia until granting asylum, separated from their family and community. Perhaps, the same premise could be applied to aliens with permitted stay in the Slovak Republic, namely for the reason that they were obliged to change their natural living environment and to come to a foreign country for a certain time or even forever and to start with a new work, study, partnership, etc. 60 Table 40 demonstrates the occurrence of socio-pathological phenomena among the aliens generally for 200220:

Table 40. Occurrence of socio-pathological phenomena among the non-natives in Slovakia in 2002 Abortions spontaneous induced other total 15 12 4 31 males females total Drug abuse 5 0 5 Patients hospitalised in psychiatric departments 29 7 36 of hospitals Committed suicides 1 0 1 Attempts at suicide 0 0 0 Sexually transmitted 011 diseases (without HIV) Source: ÚZIŠ 2003

As seen, the figures are actually minimum, of an individual character, merely with no statistical significance compared to the total numbers of these events in the whole population of the country. Among other things, psychological services and consultations rendered at the refugee centres have shown to be useful and with good results for asylum seekers.

4.2.5 Impacts of migrants on the level of criminality Migration works as one of the criminogenic factors (Ondrišák 2002; Očenášová 2001). Certain differences exist as regards committing offences in various groups of people in a country, including migrants, refugees, foreigners with a permit to stay, etc. However, particularly in Slovakia, the criminality of aliens is much overestimated by many natives and no good atmosphere is built about this matter. But how is it in reality, is it actually an important problem? Or is it more a reflection of the xenophobic perception of foreigners? Figures in the following three tables (Table 41, 42 and 43) and the related two graphs in the appendix (Graph 16 and 17) may provide an answer:

Table 41. Number and share of clear-up offences committed by aliens in Slovakia in 2000–2002 Number of clear-up Number of clear-up Percentage Year offences committed offences committed of aliens in total by aliens in the total 2000 47,107 1,634 3.5 2001 50,818 1,227 2.4 2002 55,212 969 1.8 Source: Internal statistics of the Ministry of Interior 2003 and own calculations

20 No differentiation between the particular groups of migrants available 61 Table 42. Number and share of aliens charged by prosecutor’s offices in Slovakia within 2000–2002 Indicator Year 2000 2001 2002 Number of all prosecuted persons 36,779 39,102 44,704 Number of prosecuted foreigners 709 710 687 Share of foreigners in the total (in %) 1.9 1.8 1.5 Source: Internal statistics of the Office of Prosecutor General 2003 and own calculations

Table 43. Number and share of aliens condemned by law courts in Slovakia in 2000–2002 Indicator Year 2000 2001 2002 Number of all condemned persons 22,369 22,949 23,887 Number of condemned foreigners 223 210 215 Their share in the total (in %) 1.0 0.9 0.9 FOREIGNERS: Women 13 19 11 Suspended on probation 85 82 90 Condemned without suspension 78 77 64 Other punishments 60 51 61 Source: MS SR 2003; Internal statistics of the Ministry of Justice 2003 and own calculations

It is obvious from the tables and graphs that the numbers and shares of clear-up offences committed by aliens, of aliens charged by prosecutor’s offices or of those finally condemned by law courts do not represent significant figures in the Slovak Republic. In addition, there is an apparent tendency of decrease in the share of aliens engaged in committing delinquency. On the other hand, there is a disproportion between the share of aliens in the total number of inhabitants in Slovakia (0.55% in 2002 – own calculations by Stav a pohyb obyvateľstva… 2003) and the key above-presented relative indicators pertaining to the criminality of foreigners (1.8, 1.5 and 0.9% respectively in 2002). However, this numerical disproportion does not mean any peril to the country (cf. confirming older data by Kračunovská 1997). It has to be emphasised that aliens in the country are at productive age more than the rest of the population, which is one of the reasons for the given difference. But at the same time, menace to society from the delicts committed by aliens is not so much momentous – aliens mostly commit less dangerous (clear-up) offences as theft, fraud, peculation, avoidance of alimony, battery, robbery, disturbance. On the contrary - and perhaps less expected by the public, the shares of foreigners committing serious offences as murder, rape, kidnapping, arson, terrorism etc. are lower than those in the autochthonous population. Only the involvement of aliens in drug trafficking is more noticeable (8% out of all prosecuted persons for this crime in the country - Internal statistics of the Office of Prosecutor General 2003) as well as their participation in car thefts, racketeering, smuggling and organised prostitution (Csámpai / Haládik 2002). However, as a whole – as referred to in interview No. 17 - the legal framework and the practical measures to cover the issues of criminality of foreigners are sufficiently effective in the Slovak Republic. 62 Interesting can be also views of criminality perpetrated by foreigners from the local level – from representatives of self-government in settlements with a higher proportion of migrants occurring there for various reasons. Information obtained by interview No. 11 with a representative of self-government from a small Slovak town (Brezová pod Bradlom) with a long-existing accommodation refugee centre informs about no influences of migrants on criminality in the settlement; there are only some sporadic cases without grave impacts there. A representative of self-government from Bratislava does not speak in interview No. 10 concretely about the question either, just admits a certain “risk”. Thus the problem of criminality of migrants in the Slovak Republic is in general not so serious as one might expect.21 More serious seems to be the weight attributed to particular cases by individuals, state organs, media and public opinion leading to an inappropriate overestimate of the phenomenon.

4.2.6 Cultural contribution of migrants to Slovak society Here, it is possible to start from the following factors interacting in synergy: the numbers of migrants in various categories in the country, the duration of their operation in the territory of Slovakia, the types of and differences between the most represented cultures, the level of integration of aliens into Slovak society, the perception of aliens and the acceptance of other cultures by Slovak citizens. As accentuated in the text for many times, the numbers of legal migrants are not high in the Slovak Republic. On the other side, as will be described in the further subchapter, the perception of aliens and the acceptance of their cultures are not at all on a sufficient level in Slovakia yet. Besides, most of the undocumented migrants and asylum seekers intend to move farther to the west and the country is only a temporary stop for them. Finally, the refugees wish to be – at least outwardly – integrated into Slovak society as soon as possible in order to be granted Slovak citizenship, to get a good job and perhaps not to be different from their environment too much for various reasons. Naturally, from the cultural viewpoint, migrants under these circumstances have not ideal conditions for presenting and promoting their own cultures. Nevertheless, several more or less official migrants’ associations, societies, clubs etc. have arisen in Slovakia. The most represented or known are organisations of Arab students as the General Association of Muslim Students, Association of Syrian Students, Association of Palestinian Students, then the Association of African Students, that of students from Latin America, or the Association of Vietnamese Entrepreneurs. But the most active is the Association of Afghanis in Slovakia. The organisations named first are largely exclusive, rather enclosed with few official relations to the public, hardly accessible to people not being from a respective community. On the contrary, the Association of Afghanis in Slovakia not only helps to own natives, but organises cultural, sports, informational and other events where also Slovaks are welcome. As far as the asylum seekers or refugees are concerned, it is important whether they plan to stay in Slovakia definitively, or not. This influences their cultural activities, incorporation in society, and contacts with Slovak residents. With reference to interview No. 15, one can distinguish cultural patterns having a certain succession: first, after the

21 In addition, asylum seekers, refugees or undocumented migrants do practically not commit relevant criminal offences, here the group of foreigners with permits to stay dominates (Šatka 1998). 63 arrival to Slovakia, migrants are reserved and adhere to their own culture. This is multiplied by staying in the quarantine. The second phase is constituted by gradual contacts with workers at refugee centres who inform migrants about the elementary principles of Slovak culture. Afterwards, migrants get acquainted with the life and culture of Slovak natives during walks and trips, can confront it with own cultural values, find and accept the positive attributes of Slovak culture. In particular the relation of refugees to Slovak culture is unexpectedly cordial; many of them are interested in economic, political, cultural issues of the country and are quite well oriented in them. Of course, the aliens staying in the territory of Slovakia by the Act on Stay of Aliens have to accept Slovak culture quite quickly, but can also retain theirs in many ways. Right these foreigners have set up the associations and societies mentioned above. The acceptance of migrants’ culture by Slovak inhabitants is not clear, their attitudes to this issue are characterised by ambiguity. According to a survey carried out by Letavajová (2001b), one third of Slovaks are convinced that migrants living in the Slovak territory should give up their culture and accommodate to the culture of Slovak society. Another third think in a converse way and the last third of people are inclined to the combination of both preceding opinions. In general, the majority awaits that migrants adapt themselves to Slovak culture to a large degree. One may conclude that cultural influences due to the existence of migrants in Slovakia will be apparent much more after an increase of the number of migrants, above all legal ones. Hitherto only the personal dimension of cultural effects has been mostly pronounced, i.e. impacts on small groups or individuals. Those who were in a more intensive contact with migrants have re-evaluated own attitudes, discovered new traditions and values. Cohabitation with aliens results in the creation of new cultural elements and models on the basis of both cultures – domestic (Slovak) and foreign one(s) with a positive content. But this process is just in the very beginning in Slovakia now.

4.3 Perception, discrimination, xenophobia, public opinion in Slovak society in relation to migrants The evaluation of questions related to the perception of migrants, aliens, refugees in the territory of Slovak Republic may be based on several fundamental premises: 1. existing numbers of legal and undocumented migrants in the country, trends of development 2. their activities in Slovakia – economic, social, cultural, criminal, political, demographic etc., their contributions or negatives, if any 3. opinions of autochthonous residents, state organisations, NGOs, experts to these matters 4. experience and perception of this problem by migrants proper Just a comprehensive evaluation of all the factors may lead to an objective analysis of the actual situation.

Out of the expressions of official institutions, other organisations, journalists, experts or domestic citizens, given publicly or in an unofficial way,22 it has to be sincerely stated

22 For example, through the help of in-depth interviews performed within the research 64 that there are evident forms of at least xenophobia in the Slovak population (cf. Hargašová 1996; Vítek / Poláček 2000; UNHCR / FOCUS 1998 et 2001; Letavajová 2001b; etc.). Public opinion is mostly not inclined positively to migrants, but to a different extent: In certain cases, people in Slovakia are declaratively open to migrants and regard them positively or in a neutral manner until situation does not require their higher engagement. Some people feel general distrust, neither explained rationally, nor objectified. Other people look at foreign migrants more negatively, seeing a danger in them. This danger may be of various natures. In the areas with a high rate of unemployment and the simultaneous employment of (ir)regular migrants, citizens of Slovak origin may deem migrants to be responsible for this state. These Slovak natives do not perceive that it is primarily a local (Slovak) employer who much benefits from the illegal employment of foreigners. People are also afraid of undocumented migrants, transit migrants or asylum seekers because of the potential risk of spreading contagious illnesses and criminality despite proof that this is unsubstantiated. As summarised from interview No. 16 with an expert-politologist, interview No. 19 with an expert from the NGO Society of Goodwill People, interviews No. 2, No. 3, No. 12 and No. 15, there is a negative public opinion or even intolerance of Slovaks toward other cultures, mainly those related to migrants. Frequently, just the negative examples are discussed – activities of traffickers, the dirty appearance of migrants, mendicancy on streets, small thefts, more serious criminal activities of aliens, and the like. A positive picture is not created. Intolerance is also visible towards cultural distinctions of migrants – their worse command of Slovak language, religious specificities, clothing. It is not rare to hear from Slovak natives deliberations in a negative sense about why migrants come to the country and why they do not stay at home. Public opinion depends on reasons for the arrival of migrants to the Slovak territory: People are prepared to tolerate the presence of refugees as long as these do not jeopardise their privacy and material conditions (financial expenses of the state, the rate of unemployment etc.), as long as these do not demonstrate much their cultural otherness and as long as these plan to go back home in the future (cf. Letavajová 2002). It is also necessary to mention here a marginal behaviour in the Slovak population towards migrants – i.e., unfriendly or even racist attitudes. Their occurrence is, fortunately, not high but some migrants met them personally, either on the ground of an institution or in the form of violence when attacked by skinheads, for instance. The groups like the latter are not frequent in the country; however, they influence the view of migrants on Slovak society rather intensively. The xenophobia of citizens in the Slovak Republic against migrants is sometimes multiplied by their discrimination. One of the most frequent forms of discrimination is the provision of sizeably underestimated wages for migrants from the east. In addition, the migrants illegally employed are a vulnerable group of persons being in the situation when they must accept quite unfavourable labour conditions and low wages. But there are difficulties with finding jobs for migrants with a permit, too. Migrants also experience more administrative complications with managing their own things at various offices, which could be denoted as a form of discrimination. Moreover, foreign migrants are sometimes faced with social isolation within a housing environment they live in, unfriendly behaviour toward them in various public facilities, etc. They also meet with racist comments, invectives or attacks on streets and the police react negligently or too late, as interviews No. 5, No. 21 and No. 22 document. 65 What are the reasons for such adverse attitudes? Is it immanent, or somehow acquired? The mentality of Slovaks comes perhaps also out of historical development. The isolation of the country during the past 50 years resulted in the fear of something unknown, in lesser self-confidence and reduced openness as well as in a lower degree of the acceptance of alien cultures. Among other things, in the previous period Slovak society was not often confronted with foreigners (not taking into account tourists), especially asylum seekers, labour migrants, undocumented migrants, etc. According to a discussion within interview No. 7, larger foreign immigration is a phenomenon of the last decade only and particularly older generations did not manage to modify their stereotypes. However, not only due to above reasons the relations to aliens and migrants are not especially friendly. The extent of prejudices is marked and depends on several factors. Education is one of them; the more educated people are, the more positive their attitude towards aliensis. Another factor is age; as was already outlined, younger generations are more broad-minded. The next factor is represented by the experience of people from life abroad, which does not need more commenting. Then, the urban/rural aspect – people from larger cities and developed regions are more tolerant to migrants than those from remote, isolated regions or from the countryside. And, of course, the personal contacts; this factor could be the most important one in combating prejudices not only in Slovakia (cf. Letavajová 2001b). One of the greatest problems lies in the working of the media. Many Slovak people do not know differences in the terms and meanings concerning migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, aliens as such. They all are often ranked into the category of undesirable persons. Xenophobia and discrimination are then a natural reflection of pictures provided mostly in the media. The positive cases, e.g., about the integration of aliens into society, are seldom shown. The migration matters are in general not sufficiently presented by the media, so the public cannot change its reasoning and is not prepared to a larger movement of persons from abroad. Discrimination thus much issues out of the lack of information. It is not stressed that migrants are not any danger to society; on the contrary – they enrich autochthonous society by their cultures. It seems that discrimination and racism in the Slovak Republic may have a growing tendency; also owing to a lax approach of the state executive. Politicians do not deal with migration questions enough, do not inform about their opinions on this subject. Some institutions are not sufficient advocates of migrants, although this should be their duty. Other institutions often neglect obvious manifestations of intolerance and discrimination (even the police). Seen under this angle, public opinion only reflects the level and approaches of state policy in this field. The above-described attitudes cause to a great degree the so-called ”Roma problem” in Slovakia as well. By information gained from interviews No. 28, No. 29 and No. 30, the negative perception of the Roma by the majority population is co-responsible for a higher willingness of Roma to leave the country. Not a negligible part of them even materialises intentions in a concrete movement - emigration from the Slovak Republic. Though economic reasons are more or less substantial here, almost every Roma migrant mentions the fear of general discrimination, racist comments and attacks from non-Roma individuals and improper behaviour from the side of state institutions (IOM 2000b). Within the interviewing of foreign migrants living in the territory of the Slovak Republic 66 for a longer time, the following views were expressed as regards the public opinion of Slovaks about foreigners, confirming the above observations: “The prevailing public opinion of natives about us is not good.” (interview No. 24) “I think that Slovaks, in general, do not like aliens.” (interview No. 25) “Actually, I have good experience with Slovaks, but have a bit the fear of extremism here.” (interview No. 26) “The public opinion of the Slovak population on migrants and foreigners may be characterised in these words: There is quite a big group of people that is tolerant to aliens and does not have any difficulties with them. Then, there is here another group – the largest one – that considers itself to be tolerant, but it is not so in effect. The fear of the unknown and even xenophobia dominate in this group. They like migrants, but in their own countries. And there is a small group of extremists and racists, which is totally intolerant and aggressive. I cannot speak about the direct discrimination of migrants. Slovak legal norms secure sufficient rights also to aliens living in the country. But the implementation of laws in practice is another thing. For example, you may not prove to an employer that he did not select you for a position just because of your strange name, etc.” (interview No. 23).

The above given critical statements may be supported by some figures and evaluations. There exist merely a few public opinion surveys on the discussed topic, conducted in the country; however, information gained from them may be of a more representative character. Already in 1994 a research report entitled Attitudes of youth in the Slovak Republic towards the problem of intolerance was published by the Institute of information and prognoses in the school system (Rimóczyová / Hargašová 1994). Though even there was no special emphasis on migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in the report, there is a chapter devoted to this matter. The sample of interviewees consisted of 1,400 persons at the age of 15 to 26. Although the assistance to war migrants was agreed by most of the respondents (75%), they largely conditioned it by the shortened duration of their stay in Slovakia (40%). Some 2/3 of the sample respondents were willing to render help to them, if necessary. It is interesting that the most tolerant were women at home or on maternity leave, the least tolerant entrepreneurs or young people from rural settlements. Attitudes to economic migrants were more heterogeneous, less favourable. Around 34% of respondents endorsed the idea of their direct integration, 38% integration through reception centres, almost 20% were against creating them any conditions. Direct integration was most backed up by university educated persons. In 1995, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic analysed racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance in the consciousness of inhabitants of the Slovak Republic within two samples of persons – 1,330 and 843 respondents. Answers obtained suggest the unwillingness of Slovak natives to live in the surroundings of immigrants and refugees (80% of respondents) or to provide them with material, social, health and housing assistance (75%). Over half of the respondents were of the opinion that immigrants and refugees took away labour opportunities from Slovak residents, that they committed criminal offences in the territory of the country and that they were in a complicated situation through their own fault. A more detailed analysis of the data did not detect greater differences in the various social and demographic groups of respondents. 67 In 2000, the non-governmental organisation Slovak Helsinki Committee realised the Survey of racial and ethnic tolerance among the students of selected elementary and secondary schools in Bratislava (Vítek / Poláček 2000). Although the questions on tolerance to migrants in particular were not in the foreground of the survey, some findings may be relevant. The highest intolerance was demonstrated against the Roma, tolerance towards other groups included (Africans, Arabs, Vietnamese) was higher though not satisfactory. Significant differences were found by gender; boys were more radical in their opinions, Furthermore, respondents below 15 achieved a lower level of tolerance than older respondents. On the whole, the lowest tolerance showed students of elementary schools and vocational schools, the most tolerant were those from higher grammar schools. One of the most important surveys was carried out by UNHCR–Slovakia in collaboration with the FOCUS Agency in 1998 and repeatedly in 2001 – the former year on a sample of 1,088 adult inhabitants of the Slovak Republic, the latter on a sample of 1,020 respondents. Both surveys were named The attitudes of the public towards refugees in Slovakia (UNHCR / FOCUS 1998 et 2001). Since most of the Slovak residents do not differ between various categories of aliens, these findings have a more universal value. The samples were representative for the population of the country over the age of 18 from the aspect of gender, age, education, nationality, size of settlement and district. Out of the findings, these could be deemed the most interesting (depicted in the form of tables):

Table 44. Survey on the attitudes of the public towards refugees in Slovakia 2001. Responses to the statements (in %) Statement 1 2 3 4 5 Refugees should be accepted, given assistance and shelter in 24.5 41.8 18.5 7.9 7.3 Slovakia if they fled from their homeland for serious reasons It is necessary to help refugees because they are people in 21.5 45.3 19.1 7.2 7.0 need and they require our humanitarian aid Refugees coming to our country should be sent back to the 21.6 29.4 28.3 9.4 11.3 country of their origin or farther to some other country Refugees take away the job opportunities from our inhabitants 19.7 30.0 26.4 11.8 12.0 Refugees contribute to the growth of criminality on our territory 27.6 35.3 18.2 4.9 13.9 Refugees are costly to our state 39.2 34.1 10.0 2.6 14.1 Refugees bring different diseases 26.8 33.3 15.4 3.7 20.8 1 = completely agree, 2 = rather agree, 3 = rather disagree, 4 = completely disagree, 5 = do not know, not considering Source: UNHCR / FOCUS 2001 68 Table 45. Survey on the attitudes of the public towards refugees in Slovakia 1998 and 2001. Responses to the statements (in %), the comparison of agreement or disagreement with the selected statements on refugees Completely Rather and Do not Statement and rather completely know agree disagree 1998 2001 1998 2001 1998 2001 Refugees should be accepted, given assistance and shelter 74.9 66.3 20.7 26.4 4.4 7.3 in Slovakia if they fled for serious reasons It is necessary to help refugees, because they are people in 68.5 66.8 26.5 26.3 5.1 7.0 need and they require our humanitarian aid Refugees coming to our country should be sent back to the 49.5 51.0 42.1 37.7 8.5 11.3 country of their origin or farther to some other country Refugees take away the job opportunities from 49.3 49.7 40.3 38.2 10.4 12.0 our inhabitants Refugees contribute to the growth of criminality 57.4 62.9 27.1 23.1 15.4 13.9 on our territory Source: UNHCR / FOCUS 1998 et 2001

Table 46. Survey on the attitudes of the public towards refugees in Slovakia 2001. Responses to the questions (in %): Would you be willing to help the humanitarian organisation assisting refugees by… Response 1 2 3 4 5 ... financial contribution? 8.0 27.7 31.9 26.8 5.5 ... material gift (e.g. food, clothing, toys)? 29.5 47.5 11.7 8.0 3.3 ... volunteer work? 6.5 21.8 37.0 25.6 9.1 1 = completely agree, 2 = rather agree, 3 = rather disagree, 4 = completely disagree, 5 = do not know, not considering Source: UNHCR / FOCUS 2001

Information gained by these surveys may be summarised as follows: • About 2/3 of the Slovak population agrees with the opinion that refugees should be accepted in Slovakia, given assistance or receive humanitarian aid, if they escaped from the motherland for serious reasons. • Considerable part of the population, however, has negative feelings from the presence of refugees in the territory of Slovakia as well as from consequences accompanying their presence. • Almost 3/4 of the respondents agree with the statement that refugees are costly to the Slovak Republic. Then, 63% think that refugees contribute to the growth of criminality in Slovakia and 60% of interviewed are convinced that refugees bring various diseases. • Half the respondents have the opinion that refugees having come to Slovakia should be sent back to the country of origin or to another country as soon as possible. • Again, half of the interviewed agree with the opinion that refugees take labour opportunities away from the citizens of Slovakia. 69 • Sizeable part of the public declares its willingness to help humanitarian organisations for the benefit of refugees, namely by furnishing material gifts, less by money, least by volunteer work. When comparing the results of public opinion surveys in 1998 and 2001, it is apparent that some shifts in the perception of refugee issues happened: • In both years only the necessity to help refugees because they are in need was perceived almost at the same level, though the situation in 1998 was somewhat better. • On the other side, the willingness to assist them and to provide them with shelter significantly decreased in the period of 3 years (from 75% to 66%). • Analogically, a negative tendency occurred in the opinion of respondents on the criminality of refugees, sending them back to the country of origin or their taking away labour opportunities.

This chapter may be concluded by evaluation that in general it is impossible to speak about explicitly unfriendly or even racist attitudes of the Slovak population towards foreign migrants. Nevertheless, it has to be pointed out that there is clear open xenophobia in the country and a high degree of more or less latent discrimination. Slovak society will, however, have to accept the increasing number of migrants in its territory. Migrants perhaps not well commanding the language, distinguishing by habits, values, culture, a view of the world. Hence, it is inevitable to inform the public better about the phenomenon of migration, to get acquainted with each other, to communicate mutually at a higher level, to educate people toward tolerance and without prejudices, etc.; this all in the intention to encourage the formation of a multicultural society (Zajac 2002a). 70 5. Migration policy, legislation and procedures

The basic legal norms valid in the Slovak Republic and influencing the life of aliens, migrants, asylum seekers and refugees are in short indicated below: I. Slovak National Council Constitutional Act No. 460/1992 - The Constitution of the Slovak Republic II. National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 48/2002 on Stay of Aliens (as the successor to legal norms No. 69/2000, 73/1995, 123/1992 on Stay of Aliens) III. National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 480/2002 on Asylum (as the successor to legal norms No. 309/2000, 283/1995, 498/1990 on Refugees) IV. National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 70/1997 on Expatriate Slovaks as amended by the Act. No. 403/2000 V. Slovak National Council Act No. 40/1993 on Citizenship of the Slovak Republic VI. Government Directive No. 716/2002 on List of the safe third countries and the safe countries of origin (as the successor to legal norms No. 168/2000 and No. 67/1996) VII. Czecho-Slovak Federal Assembly Act No. 455/1991 on Trade Law VIII. National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 387/1996 on Employment IX. Convention No. 317/1994 between the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic on Mutual employment of citizens and the Administrative Convention No. 109/2001 between the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family in Slovakia and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in the Czech Republic from 2001 to the Convention No. 317/1994

5.1 Admission to the country The fundamental law specifying the admission of a foreigner to Slovakia is the new National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 48/2002 on Stay of Aliens in operation since April 1, 2002. This legal norm has brought modifications in the visa and stay agenda as well as in the field of the entry of aliens into the territory of Slovakia. Entry into the Slovak Republic is possible only with a travel document and a visa of the Slovak Republic or with a travel document and a stay permit. A visa is not required if it is stipulated by an international treaty by which the Slovak Republic is bound, or by the Government of the Slovak Republic. Entry into the country is possible only through a border crossing determined for international movement. The foreigner is during entering obliged to accept the border control, to present the documents entitling him/her to enter, to present a document on health insurance and to prove financial coverage for stay in the minimum amount set by a special regulation for each day of stay. The Border and Alien Police denies entry, if: the alien is an undesirable person; there is well-grounded suspicion that the alien could endanger the security of the country, public order, life, health or property or could violate other rights and liberties; it is in the interest of protection of nature; the alien does not meet the terms of entry; the alien refuses submission to the border control; there is well-grounded suspicion that the alien 71 could misuse stay for a different purpose than stipulated by an international treaty or by the Government of the Slovak Republic or for a purpose different from the one for which the visa was granted; or if the alien failed to pay his/her financial obligations against the Slovak Republic. This Act also states that it is not possible to deny entry to an alien who during the border control asked for refugee status in the territory of the Slovak Republic, who asked for the provision of temporary shelter in the territory of the Slovak Republic, whom a temporary shelter in the territory of the Slovak Republic was granted, or for whom the travel document for aliens has been issued. By these regulations the recent Act No. 48/2002 on Stay of Aliens approaches similar laws in the countries of the European Union and thus constitutes an important qualitative shift in legal norms of Slovakia. Nevertheless, it still has some weak points that will be discussed further and it seems that there is a need to amend it along with the accession of Slovakia to the EU.

The visa chapter of the Act No. 48/2002 defines 4 main kinds of visa to enter the territory of the Slovak Republic: 1. airport transit visa warranting the foreigner to stay in a transit area of a public airport in Slovakia for an air connection mentioned in the air ticket; 2. transit visa entitling the foreigner to transit the territory of the Slovak Republic at his/her passage from one country to the territory of a third country; 3. short-term visa authorising the foreigner to one or more entries into the country and to the length of stay given in the visa; non-interrupted stay or the sum of several shorter stays may not exceed 90 days in a half-year; 4. long-term visa warranting the foreigner to enter Slovakia and to stay there for over 90 days in a half-year. In this context it may be of interest to state that the Slovak Republic has non-visa relations of four types: both-sided relation (with European countries and a few non- European ones), one-sided relation (either for the Slovak citizens, or for foreigners), relation with regulations, and relation for diplomatic and similar passport holders. In mid-1993, the Slovak citizens did not need visa in 56 countries of the world (SME, July 6, 2003). Aliens submit an application to obtain a Slovak visa at a diplomatic mission or consulate of the Slovak Republic abroad. They are obliged to present along with the application also documents confirming the purpose of stay, its financial cover, the existence of means to travel, a document on health insurance and other indispensable documents by law. The numbers of visa granted by some Slovak embassies or consulates abroad are illustrated in Table 47: 72 Table 47. Top 7 Slovak embassies and consulates abroad with the numbers of visa granted for the visit of the Slovak Republic Embassy, consulate Year 2000 2001 2002 Belgrade 24,364 23,866 15,034 Kiev 16,157 29,646 21,835 Moscow 2,868 30,481 20,300 Prague 13,172 14,216 7,932 Tokyo 19,084 13,589 1,124 Uzhgorod 8,502 38,221 26,500 Vienna 16,957 12,609 5,931 other embassies & consulates 68,853 76,442 37,942 Total169,898 239,070 136,598 Source: Office of Border and Alien Police 2003

The admission of a foreigner to the Slovak Republic for the purpose of employment, business activity or study does not differ from the general conditions to enter the country, i.e., a valid travel document and a visa, if needed. The application for permitting the stay of aliens in Slovakia for these purposes may be submitted either at the Slovak mission in the country, which issued his/her passport, or under certain conditions also at the police in Slovakia. The next attributes of admission for these purposes concern already the requirements for granting stay in the Slovak Republic, so they belong to the provisions resolving these questions dealt with in the following subchapter. However, work permits, trade licenses to do business or the confirmations of study in Slovakia in principle precede the granting of a long-term visa and stay permit.

5.2 Stay in the country The stay of aliens in the Slovak Republic is defined by Act No. 48/2002 on Stay of Aliens as well. This Act distinguishes three essential forms of the stay of aliens in Slovakia: temporary stay (within it also registered stay), permanent stay (within it permanent stay with the first permit and that with the next permit) and tolerated stay. The previous Act on Stay of Aliens No. 73/1995 recognised the categories of permanent stay and long-term stay merely. A permit for temporary stay entitles the alien to stay in the territory of the Slovak Republic and to travel abroad during the time, for which the police issued that permit (at most one year, with more than one repeating possible). A permit for temporary stay is not required from an alien who has been granted the status of foreign Slovak. A permit for temporary stay is bound to one purpose only. Usually, the following purposes are considered - business activities, employment, studies, activity according to special programmes, or family reunification. A permit for temporary stay for the purpose of business activity may be granted to an alien by the police, based on a trade license provided by the respective department of a district office in the country. An alien who has been granted a permit for temporary stay for the purpose of business activity must not enter into employment or similar labour relations in Slovakia. A permit for temporary stay for the purpose of employment may be granted to an alien by the police on the basis on an employment permit granted by a labour office in the 73 country, unless otherwise determined by an international treaty. An alien who has been granted a permit for temporary stay for the purpose of employment must not execute business activities. A permit for temporary stay for the purpose of studies may be granted to an alien who attends any elementary or secondary school, or studies at a university. An alien who has been granted a permit for temporary stay by the police for the purpose of studies, must not execute business activities and enter into employment or similar labour relations during his/her studies. A permit for temporary stay for the purpose of activities in the framework of specific programmes may be granted to an alien for research, scientific, lecturer activities, or if it is necessary, for meeting the commitment of the Slovak Republic entailed from an international treaty. Temporary stay for the purpose of family reunification is another kind within temporary stays. The circumstances under which it may be granted will be a subject of explanation in the subchapter Reunification of families in this Chapter. An alien, who is a citizen of a member country of the parties to the European Association Treaty is, based on registration, entitled to registered stay for the maximum of one year. It may be so for the purpose of executing economic activities, employment, employment pursuant to a special regulation, or the execution of activity of a pre-accession advisor in the framework of the integration procedure of the Slovak Republic into the EU. This is an entirely new category of temporary stay in Slovakia with many positive signs. Particularly, the procedure of deciding on registered stay is much shortened, liberalised and de-formalised (cf. Office of Border and Alien Police 2003). The police have to decide on registration within 14 days following the acceptation of an application and with fewer documents submitted than for the other modalities of temporary stay. It is also a way to make the country attractive for economically active persons from the Western European countries. A permanent stay permit entitles an alien to stay in the territory of the Slovak Republic, to travel abroad and back during the time, for which the police granted this permit, unless otherwise given by law. The police may grant a permanent stay permit for the first time for three years. After the end of this period the police may, following an application, grant a permanent stay permit for an indefinite period of time – this kind of permanent stay is called the next permit. The purposes for granting the first permanent stay permit are primarily the family reunification, followed by employment activities. The first permanent stay permits are also granted to refugees, foreign Slovaks, etc. When applying for granting the first permit, an alien encloses documents not older than 90 days, acknowledging the purpose of stay, a clear criminal record, the financial coverage of stay, health insurance in the territory of the Slovak Republic and the arrangement of accommodation during permanent stay. The police grant the next permit to an alien, who has been granted the first permit. At deciding upon granting the next permit the police consider the public interest (chiefly the security viewpoints), whether the alien’s entrepreneurial activity is a contribution to the economy of the country. The police also regard the situation and development on the Slovak labour market and public health, alien’s personal and family circumstances, 74 his/her financial situation, the duration of alien’s hitherto and presumed stay in Slovakia as well as the degree of his/her integration into society. By the Act, the last category of stays in the Slovak Republic is tolerated stay. The police grant a permit for tolerated stay to an alien: if there is a hindrance for his/her administrative expulsion; who has been granted temporary shelter; or if his/her leaving the country is not possible and there is no reason for detention. The police may repeatedly prolong tolerated stay, but they are obliged to verify whether the grounds for granting a permit continue. For this purpose, the police are entitled to require from an alien the submission of a document corroborating the existence of hindrance for exit. During the duration of a tolerated stay permit, the alien is not allowed to execute business activities nor enter into any employment relations. Upon request of the alien who has been granted tolerated stay, the police may - after the expiration of the first three years from granting tolerated stay - grant a permit for temporary stay for the purpose of employment.

According to us and as confirmed also in interview No. 8, the new Act on Stay of Aliens has introduced inter alia the following positive institutes: • Granting a suspense effect of the appeal against the decision on expulsion in the case of a rejected asylum seeker; • Harmonisation of reasons relevant for the prohibition and expulsion of stay with the European Convention of Human Rights; • Introduction of tolerated stay for aliens who cannot be deported because of reasons mentioned by ECHR and by the 1951 Geneva Convention as well as for stateless persons; • Introduction of provisions relating to the status and documents of stateless persons. But there is still a good portion of shortcomings in the Act. In contrast with the previous law, the new one applies to the asylum seekers, too. The negative practical aspect of this change is the fact that the offence of illegal entry into or presence in the territory of Slovakia is incorporated in the Act and is applied in many cases to persons applying for asylum, which is at variance with Article 31 of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.23 In the spirit of the convention, every asylum applicant should have the right to have his/her case examined. The new Act constitutes in some issues a step forward; however, some provisions still remain unfavourable for foreigners. If the alien fulfils one of the criteria for expulsion laid down by the Act, he/she is expelled automatically from the territory of Slovakia. In conformity with the Act, his/her family ties in Slovakia are not taken into account and the “necessity in the democratic society” according to Article 8 § 2 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is not weighted. The Act on Stay of Aliens comprises a provision on the obstacles of administrative expulsion of an alien, when his/her life would be threatened, or he/she could be subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. However, the police authorities when deciding on expulsion do not take into consideration on their own motion the obstacles of administrative expulsion.

23 Expressed also in discussion with the NGO–Slovak Helsinki Committee 75 The institute of “tolerated stay” was introduced by the new Act, however, there are some problems connected with it. The rejected asylum seeker is not examined automatically, whether he/she fulfils criteria for tolerated stay; he/she has to apply for it. Then, persons granted tolerated stay are not allowed to work and they are not entitled to any social benefits. Practically, the Act forces these people either to make their living illegal, or to leave the country as soon as possible - most probably illegally, too. Only few aliens applied for tolerated stay up to now.

5.2.1 Foreign Slovaks A specific position within the Slovak legal norms on migrants has an alien with the status of foreign Slovak. The rights of such persons are guaranteed by the National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 70/1997 on Expatriate Slovaks (as amended by the Act No. 403/2000). An Expatriate Slovak is a person to whom such the status can be granted on the basis of his/her Slovak nationality in a foreign country or Slovak ethnic origin and Slovak cultural and language awareness. For the purpose of this law, the direct ancestors up to the third generation with Slovak nationality are eligible. The applicants prove their Slovak nationality or Slovak ethnic origin by presenting supporting documents (as a birth certificate, baptism certificate, registry office statement, and a proof of nationality or permanent stay permit). It is perhaps interesting that the applicants have to prove their Slovak cultural and language awareness by results of their current activities, by a testimony of a Slovak countrymen organisation active in the place of residence of an applicant, or by a testimony of at least two Expatriate Slovaks living in the applicant’s country of residence. The applicants submit a written application for the recognition of the Slovak Expatriate Status to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Slovak Republic or abroad at a mission or a consular office of the Slovak Republic. The Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs decides on the application within 60 days from its submission. In case the application is accepted, the Ministry through the respective mission of the Slovak Republic will issue the applicant a document (”Expatriate Card”), identifying him/her as a Slovak Expatriate. What advantages does the status of foreign Slovak bring to its holders? For instance, the foreign Slovaks entering the territory of the Slovak Republic are not required to have a visa, if this is in harmony with bilateral agreements. They have also the right of permanent stay in the territory of the Slovak Republic – a circumstance that is very favourable for them. More importantly, the persons with the status of foreign Slovaks have the right to apply for admission to any educational institution in the territory of Slovakia, apply for employment without a work permit, apply for the state citizenship of the Slovak Republic, request an exception from Social Security payments. The foreign Slovaks have also the right to own and acquire real estates in the territory of the Slovak Republic, which is not the case for any other category of migrants or aliens in the country. In the sense outlined above, the provisions of the Act on Expatriate Slovaks are fairly advantageous for this category of aliens and enable them many exceptions and benefits during their stay in Slovakia. 76 The following graph and table demonstrate some data referring to granting the status of foreign Slovak over the recent years. For example, Graph 18 shows the numbers of applications for each year since this Act has come into operation. In the given period, the number of persons who received the status of foreign Slovak reached 9,126, i.e. almost 94% out of those 9,732 persons who applied for it, which makes quite a high share. The holders come from 38 countries of the world. Table 48 indicates top 25 of them (the other 13 countries are with 1 to 5 holders):

Table 48. Top 25 states as to the number of persons granted the status of foreign Slovak between mid-1997 and mid-2003 State Number State Number Serbia 2,456 Russia 29 Romania 2,405 Slovenia 28 Ukraine 1,617 France 27 Czech Republic 738 Kirghizia 25 Germany 476 Australia 20 U.S.A. 437 Bulgaria 19 Austria 338 The Netherlands 18 Poland 125 Bosnia and Herzegovina 13 Croatia 91 Denmark 9 Sweden 59 Kazakstan 7 Hungary 57 Italy 7 Canada 48 Argentina 6 Switzerland 31

Source: Internal documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2003

There are no very detailed statistics on further characteristics of applicants for and holders of the status of foreign Slovak. However, an approximate picture may be created with the help of the Evaluative Report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic for the Years 1997 - 2002 (Internal documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2003): From the viewpoint of the age structure, economically active persons form most of the holders. Those at postproductive age account for about 5%. A statistically more significant proportion of the aged may be observed only with the applicants from the U.S.A. and Czech Republic; these constitute around 15-20% of the holders. The share of persons at pensionable age in the most numerous groups of holders from Serbia, Romania and Ukraine is just marginal (1-2%). From the aspect of social position, most of the holders belong to employees of the middle or lower classes. A more remarkable percentage of holders with higher incomes may be found only with citizens of developed countries as the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, Germany and Austria. An extraordinarily high share of persons without employment and stable incomes is made by persons from Romania (an estimate of 75%) and Ukraine (about 70%). 77 On the basis of information obtained, the majority of holders - utilising the status of foreign Slovak to legalise their stay in Slovakia - aim at winning an official job in the country. Here, the situation is rather varied; e.g. ethnic Slovaks from Romania with a low level of education work primarily in agriculture, mining and building industry. Only a part of them is employed within more developed branches. A high quantity of Slovaks coming from former Yugoslavia is represented by students at universities (some 60 to 100 persons a year). Ethnic Slovaks from Ukraine are above all employed in building industry, engineering and services.

5.2.2 Acquisition of Slovak citizenship The conditions for the acquisition of Slovak citizenship by persons with other citizenships are the subject to the Slovak National Council Act No. 40/1993 on Citizenship of the Slovak Republic. According to this legal norm, the citizenship of the Slovak Republic can be granted upon request to such a person who is not a citizen of the country, has continuos permanent stay in the territory of the Slovak Republic for at least 5 years, speaks the Slovak language and was not condemned for an intentional crime. The citizenship of the Slovak Republic can further be acquired by a person who has entered into the marriage with a Slovak citizen, by a person with the status of foreign Slovak, or for reasons worth of special attention – if, e.g., an alien has done something of great benefit for the Slovak Republic in the field of economy, science, culture or technology. The husband and the wife can request granting the citizenship of the Slovak Republic in a common application. The application of both partners in a marriage is considered separately. Minor children stated in the parent’s application gain citizenship together with their parent. If the applicant in his/her application states minor children for granting the citizenship, the consent of the other parent is requested. A person whose former Czechoslovak citizenship expired may acquire the citizenship of the Slovak Republic even though not all required conditions are met. A person who was up to 31st December 1992 a citizen of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic and is nowadays not a citizen of Slovakia may apply for the citizenship of the Slovak Republic.24 The citizenship of the Slovak Republic is granted by the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic. The application for granting Slovak citizenship is lodged at a district authority and also the certificate of Slovak citizenship is issued by an appropriate district office. As regards the loss of citizenship of the Slovak Republic, this can be lost only at own request of a person by his/her release from the state bond. Only such a person can be released from the state bond, which has a citizenship of another country, or has a promise of granting another citizenship on the condition of the above-mentioned release, or if it can be reasonably assumed that upon the release of such a person from the state bond this person will be granted a citizenship of another country. The statistics on persons having acquired Slovak citizenship do not contain many parameters; only the number of citizenships granted by individual countries of previous citizenship and by years 1993 - 2002. Thus – as presented in Table 49 – the overwhelming majority of granted citizenships were acquired by citizens of the Czech Republic: almost

24 This is, for instance, a very relevant provision for current citizens of the Czech Republic being once citizens of a common State and coming originally from Slovakia. 78 92% out of the total of 105,103. This is not surprising at all; a large part of citizens (coming originally from Slovakia) of former Czechoslovakia after its splitting remained to live in a new Czech Republic acquiring automatically its citizenship, but they gradually applied for Slovak citizenship as well. Or other Czechs with Slovak citizenship are from mixed couples with families in and relations to the Slovak Republic. The least group is formed by those who came originally from the Czech Republic but moved to or got married in Slovakia so they naturally applied for Slovak citizenship.

Table 49. Top 25 states as to the number of persons granted the citizenship of the Slovak Republic in the period of 1993–2002 State of previous Year 1993-1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Total citizenship Czech Republic 87,727 404 890 3,650 1,715 2,106 96,492 Ukraine 1,208 121 84 81 79 120 1,693 Russia 1,125 98 54 19 26 43 1,365 Romania 708 81 37 42 15 99 982 Yugoslavia 280 45 85 49 40 256 755 Bulgaria 372 72 51 23 37 38 593 C.I.S. 592 592 United States of America 20 21 259 66 187 553 Vietnam 121 18 6 16 113 274 Poland 147 12 3 5 8 23 198 FYROM 4 11 11 8 13 98 145 Syria 77 17 7 3 3 17 124 Afghanistan 49 16 4 12 23 104 Germany 17 6 31 15 31 100 Canada 41 10 10 24 85 Hungary 58 6 10 3 3 2 82 Switzerland 27 1 5 3 20 56 Cuba 32 5 2 2 13 54 Armenia 4 1 3 6 38 52 Czechoslovakia* 48 1 49 Jordan 22 2 5 2 1 12 44 China 2 1 2 2 33 40 persons without citizenship 18 4 3 4 4 7 40 Lebanon 25 8 1 1 2 1 38 other and non-specified** 201 54 73 42 43 180 593 All countries total 92,925 975 1,356 4,241 2,122 3,484 105,103 * = e.g. former emigrants; ** = e.g. persons with several citizenships Source: Internal statistics of the Ministry of Interior - Section of Public Administration 2003

As suggested, it does not mean that all 105,103 persons with acquired Slovak citizenship in the last 10 years moved to Slovakia in the given period. On the contrary, most of the persons from the Czech Republic just applied for Slovak citizenship and received it but they continue living in the Czech Republic and thus using the advantages of both citizenships. 79 As further illustrated in the table, the next most numerous nationalities granted Slovak citizenship are Ukrainians (mainly the repatriates from the Chernobyl region as referred to in several places of the text), Russians and C.I.S. citizens (entrepreneurs). Romanians and Yugoslavs (Serbs de facto) are mostly represented by ethnic Slovaks in these countries. In the case of Bulgarians and Vietnamese, these acquired Slovak citizenship in such a relatively high number because of their historical relationships to the territory of (Czecho)Slovakia and the existence of their larger communities in the country. In view of citizens of the U.S.A. and Western European countries, these are mostly former emigrants from Slovakia now wishing to have also Slovak citizenship for several reasons (the possibility to obtain and own property in Slovakia, frequent travelling to the country, nostalgia and so on). Eventually, former refugees are also among those who have been granted the citizenship of the Slovak Republic.

5.2.3 Reunification of families On the basis of Act No. 48/2002 on Stay of Aliens a permit for temporary stay for the purpose of family reunification may be granted by the police to an alien: who is the spouse of an alien holding a permit for temporary or permanent stay (if the marriage lasts at least for one year); who is a minor child of aliens holding a permit for temporary stay or of an alien having a permit for temporary stay and who cares for the child based on the law or a decision of the respective authority; or who is a single parent depending upon the care of a citizen of the Slovak Republic with permanent residence in the territory of the Slovak Republic or upon the care of an alien with a permanent stay permit. The spouse and minor child of a citizen of the European Union - who was granted registered stay - are entitled to a permit for temporary stay following a registration for the purpose of family reunification for the same time as a citizen of the Union with whom they apply for family reunification. As regards permanent stays, the police may grant a permanent stay permit for the family reunification to an alien: who is the spouse or minor child of a citizen of the Slovak Republic with permanent residence in the territory of the Slovak Republic; who is a minor child of an alien who is the spouse of a citizen of the Slovak Republic with permanent residence in the Slovak Republic and the child has been entrusted to his/her care; who is for at least three years the spouse of an alien with a permanent stay permit for at least three years; or who is a minor child of an alien with a permanent stay permit for at least three years. According to statistics of the Office of Border and Alien Police, the following stays were permitted for the primary reason of the reunification of family out of all 29,505 permitted stays in Slovakia by country’s regions as of the end of 2002 – Table 50: 80 Table 50. Numbers of permitted stays for the reunification of family by individual categories of stay and regions of Slovakia as of December 31, 2002 Kind of stay BA BB NR TT TN KE PO ZA Total Permanent 2,433 1,219 1,498 1,104 920 2,210 1,672 1,269 12,325 Temporary 568 64 92 97 50 136 74 56 1,137 Registered 71 5 5 3 2 5 1 5 97 Total 3,072 1,288 1,595 1,204 972 2,351 1,747 1,330 13,559 BA = region of Bratislava, BB = region of Banská Bystrica, NR = region of Nitra, TT = region of Trnava, TN = region of Trenčín, KE = region of Košice, PO = region of Prešov, ZA = region of Žilina Source: Office of Border and Alien Police 2003

The total figure of stays for the purpose of the reunification of family achieves not half of all permitted stays for aliens in the Slovak Republic. It was already suggested that some further thousands of stays which have been permitted predominantly for entrepreneurship, employment or study purposes may be motivated in reality by various partnership relations. This means that over half the aliens with permitted stays in Slovakia have family or partnership relations in the country.

5.2.4 Marriages of convenience Legally, in order to prevent this kind of marriages with aliens having temporary or permanent stay in Slovakia, provisions in the Act No. 48/2002 say that the police will cancel a permit for temporary or permanent stay, if they detect that the alien contracted a marriage with the aim of acquiring a permit for temporary or permanent stay. Furthermore, the police reject an application for granting permanent stay if: there is well-grounded suspicion that the alien contracted a marriage with the aim of obtaining a permanent stay permit; the spouses do not lead a joint family life; or they did not contract a marriage according to regulation although the purpose of an application for granting permanent stay is family reunification. Around 10 years ago, there were several advertisements in certain periodicals in Slovakia on looking for an appropriate Slovak spouse for young females from Ukraine. The sum offered to men for such a marriage of convenience reached allegedly up to 100,000 SKK. Currently, Slovakia is obviously not a target country for marriages of convenience, though some cases may not be avoided. But since no data or research exist on this topic, it would be pure speculation to try to assess how many such marriages have been contracted in the country up to now.

5.3 Return, detention and expulsion of migrants

5.3.1 Detention of migrants In conformity with the Act No. 48/2002 on Stay of Aliens, the police are entitled to take an alien, who illegally enters or unlawfully stays in the territory of the Slovak Republic, into detention. The alien may be taken into detention for a time inevitably needed, at maximum for 180 days. 81 As evident, migrants who may be detained can be divided into two groups. The first is formed by those who legally entered the territory of Slovakia but their stay was not legal (i.e. at variance with the Act) at the time of their detention. It could be so, for example, because of the loss of validity of their passports or because the reasons for which stays were granted already terminated or the time of permitted stay elapsed. The second group consists of migrants who entered the territory of Slovakia in an illegal way, outside a border crossing determined for international movement, without a valid travel document, or a permit to stay. Among them are also those who have been readmitted from the neighbouring states by mutual agreements. The alien taken into detention may lodge an appeal against the decision on detention at the court within 15 days following the delivery of this decision. Lodging an appeal has no suspense effect. The period of potential stay in detention (180 days) is one of the most relevant changes in law against the preceding practices in view of detaining an undocumented migrant. Before, this period was 30 days, which did not allow to sufficiently identify aliens, gather some documents on them, communicate with countries from which migrants come and third countries in order to expel such migrants from Slovakia (or not). Such a prolongation much helps the police perform all steps necessary. A migrant illegally entering or staying in the territory of the Slovak Republic is detained at a detention centre. There are two detention centres in the country – Medveďov in the west and Sečovce in the east: The centre of police detention for foreigners at Medveďov was established in 1997, in full operation has been since January 1998. The capacity of this centre is about 150 persons (110 men and 40 women); children are not placed there (Office of Border and Alien Police 2003 and oral information by the administration of the centre). The centre for foreigners at Sečovce was opened in 1999. Its capacity is now – mid-2003 - 160 persons and the centre is also utilised by the mothers with children (oral information by the administration of the centre).

5.3.2 Expulsion and readmission The expulsion of a migrant or alien is in Slovakia executed on the exactly adduced grounds. There are two fundamental forms of expulsion – the administrative one and the judicial one (Balga 1998). The administrative expulsion (as given in the Act No. 48/2002 on Stay of Aliens) is a decision of the police on the termination of alien’s stay, setting both the conditions for him/her to leave the country and the duration of prohibited entry. A mass expulsion of aliens on the basis of one decision is inadmissible in the Slovak Republic. The police administratively expel the alien and determine the duration of prohibited entry for ten years, if: his/her further stay may endanger the security of the country, public order, health or rights and liberties of others, it is in the interest of environmental protection, or he/she has been validly sentenced for an intentional criminal act and not sentenced to judicial expulsion. Entry into the Slovak Republic is prohibited for five years, if: an alien violated regulations on drugs and psychotropic substances, at the control he/she submitted false or modified documents, executed an activity different from that for which he/she was 82 granted a permit for stay, or he/she contracted a marriage with the aim of acquiring a permit for stay. And finally, the alien is administratively expelled and entry into the country is banned up to five years, but at least for one year, if: he/she enters or stays in the territory of the Slovak Republic without authorisation, refuses to verify own identity in a credible way, stays in the territory of Slovakia upon an international treaty or a decision of the Government of the Slovak Republic and acts in contradiction to this treaty or decision. Then also if: within the procedure of granting a permit to stay the alien wilfully indicates false or incomplete data, the purpose for which the alien was granted a permit to stay expired and he/she failed to report this fact to the police, the alien hinders the enforcement of a decision of a State authority or repeatedly or in a grave way violates universally binding legal regulations in the country (cf. Kračanský 1999). The alien who has been issued an administrative expulsion is obliged to leave the country within a term specified in the decision; this term must not exceed 30 days. Otherwise, his/her expulsion is executed by the police to a border crossing of a respective neighbouring or other country. The alien may not be expelled to a country, in which his/her freedom would be endangered for the reason of his/her race, religion, belonging to a certain social group, or for political conviction, or in which he/she would be in danger of torture, cruel, inhuman or humiliating treatment or humiliating punishment. This provision does not apply if the alien threatens the security of Slovakia or if he/she has been sentenced for an especially serious criminal offence and thus represents a menace to the Slovak Republic. In 2002, altogether 90 aliens were physically administratively expelled and escorted through border crossings of Slovakia, to a large degree trough railway and road crossings. By plane, 18 aliens were physically administratively expelled, mostly with a police escort (Office of Border and Alien Police 2003; cf. older data from IOM et UN 2000c). The judicial expulsion constitutes the most serious kind of expulsion. It is described by Section 57 in the National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 85/2000 (Penal Code). According to this legal norm, the court may – if it is needed for the safety of persons or property or in other public interest – inflict such a punishment on a person who is not a citizen of the Slovak Republic due to his/her involvement in serious criminal offences. A person with the status of refugee may not be judicially expelled from Slovakia. Judicial expulsion from the territory of the country may be inflicted separately, or besides another punishment. This expulsion is valid forever, so a person once sentenced to judicial expulsion may never return to the territory of the Slovak Republic (cf. Viktoryová 1997). In total, the number of administratively and judicially expelled foreigners from the country during the past period is depicted in Table 51:

Table 51. Number of administratively and judicially expelled persons from Slovakia in 2000–2002 Expelled Year 2000 2001 2002 administratively 1,105 2,387 1,059 judicially 52 50 60 Total1,157 2,437 1,119 Source: Office of Border and Alien Police 2003 83 In the field of the readmission of undocumented migrants, readmission agreements with 14 various countries are in operation at present. In 2002, further readmission agreements were signed, for instance with Germany or the countries of Benelux; others are prepared – those with Sweden, United Kingdom, Belorussia, Greece, Pakistan, Albania, Russia, Vietnam, China, India, Afghanistan (Office of Border and Alien Police 2003). A revision of existing agreements that do not comply with universal international recommendations in the area is being carried out. The movement of migrants within the readmission agreements (all countries listed) in the course of 2002 is the subject of Table 52:

Table 52. Migrants fallen under the readmission agreements of Slovakia in 2002 Number of persons Readmission handed back received refused with of that of third Slovak of third by Slovak by that country countries citizens countries organs country Bulgaria Czech Repub. 4 6 243 1,384 4 France Croatia Yugoslavia FYROM Hungary 43 87 28 8 2 30 Poland 180 15 86 161 35 Slovenia Austria 1,210 Romania Spain Italy Ukraine 11 363 3 2 1,130 Total 238 471 360 2,765 6 1,195 Source: Office of Border and Alien Police 2003

The demonstrated figures of readmitted persons fairly correlate with the contemporary movements of undocumented migrants through the Slovak borders. Evident are the flows of migrants from Slovakia to the Czech Republic and Austria (cf. IOM et UN 2000c); on the contrary it is Ukraine and Hungary from where irregular migrants most often direct their steps to/through Slovakia.

5.3.3 Voluntary returns The issue of voluntary returns belongs to the concrete activities of the International Organisation for Migration. It has a mission also in the Slovak Republic, which ensures assisted returns to migrants wishing voluntarily go back home. Since 1996 on, IOM- Bratislava has realised almost 300 assisted voluntary returns (AVR) of this nature, in the country’s structure as illustrated in Table 53: 84 Table 53. Assisted voluntary returns from Slovakia in the period 1996–2002 organised by IOM-Bratislava Country Period 1996-1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Total FYROM 1 1 2 Afghanistan 1 1 Ethiopia 6 3 9 Kosovo 83 7 19 1 110 Armenia 4 6 10 Bosnia and Herzegovina 87 2 89 Cambodia 1 1 2 China 7 7 Pakistan 3 3 Sri Lanka 1 1 Chechnya 6 6 Latvia 1 1 Yugoslavia 6 6 Dominican Republic 1 1 Moldavia 1 4 5 Belorussia 2 2 Tanzania 2 2 Russian Federation 1 2 1 4 Ukraine 2 1 3 Guinea Bissau 1 1 India 10 10 Norway 4 4 Turkey 4 4 Bulgaria 6 6 Total 99 919 4644 289 Source: Internal documents and statistics of IOM-Bratislava 2003 and own calculations

It is apparent from the table in which years the single countries reached the peaks. In the years prior to 1999, it was a group of people originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina, refugees de facto, who were returned home. Then, they were followed by persons from Kosovo after the Kosovo crisis. From 2002 on, citizens of China, India and Chechnya dominate most, which largely corresponds to the most frequent nationalities within undocumented migration. Some other simple characteristics referring to the assisted voluntary returns are also kept – the structures of returnees according to their age or gender and by months. Table 54 and Graph 19 show these parameters. The distribution of cases in the given year does not mean anything important; it is a random fluctuation, but the proportion of returnees by age groups distinctly indicates the dominance of young migrants and even children within AVR. As expected, the males (27 persons) prevail over the females (17 persons, i.e. in the ratio 61 to 39%) within AVR but not to such a degree as in undocumented migrants or in asylum seekers. 85 Table 54. The structure of returnees from Slovakia in 2002 by their age Age group Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total to 10 2 4 4 10 11-17 1 1 18-30 1 2 9 6 3 21 31-40 1 2 2 1 6 41-50 1 1 1 2 5 51-60 0 over 60 1 1 Total 0 1 1 5 2 0 17 8 0 0 1 9 44 Source: Internal documents and statistics of IOM-Bratislava 2003

5.4 Other area matters

5.4.1 Asylum matters The Slovak Republic acceded to the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol on 1 January 1993, as a legal successor to the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, without reservations. In 1996, the Convention was published in the Slovak Law Digest and came into operation thus getting an equal status with the constitutional provisions about human rights. It should be stressed that no distinction exists in Slovak laws between the asylum and refugee status. The fundamental legal norm of the country mentioning the rights of refugees is the Constitution of the Slovak Republic (adopted by the Slovak National Council in 1992 as the Act No. 460/1992). It expresses that the foreign nationals enjoy in the Slovak Republic the cardinal human rights and liberties guaranteed by this Constitution, unless these are explicitly granted only to the native citizens. As well, the Slovak Republic grants asylum to foreign nationals persecuted for upholding political rights and liberties. Asylum may be denied to those who acted at variance with basic human rights and liberties. The most significant legal norm defining the asylum matters is the National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 480/2002 on Asylum, into effect since January 1, 2003. (This Act substitutes the preceding one - the National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 283/1995 on Refugees as amended by Act No. 309/2000). The new Act No. 480/2002 thus regulates the asylum procedure, stipulates the procedure for granting a temporary shelter, provides the rights and obligations of the asylum seekers, persons granted asylum, aliens seeking temporary shelter and de facto refugees, defines the powers of public authorities in the realm of asylum and temporary shelter, provides the integration of persons granted asylum into society, and regulates stay in asylum facilities. According to this Act, the status of refugee is granted to an alien–applicant who has the well-founded fear of being persecuted on the grounds of race, ethnic origin or religion, for reasons of expressing certain political opinions or belonging to a certain social group in the country of his/her nationality or, in the case of a stateless person, in the country of his/her residence and because of this fear he/she cannot or does not want to return to that country. 86 By law, there is no formal preliminary examination conducted by the police and there is no time limit in which an alien has to apply for refugee status. In harmony with the Act, an alien intending to apply for the refugee status in the Slovak Republic declares it, in writing or orally, into a protocol. It may be done so: in the police department at the border at the time of alien’s entry into the Slovak Republic, in the police department in the place of alien’s stay after crossing the border of the Slovak Republic, or in the police department in the place of his/her stay within the period of permitted stay in the territory of the Slovak Republic. An asylum seeker may request asylum at any time whether his/her stay is legal or illegal. The principle of non-refoulement is clearly pronounced in the Act. The expulsion or return of an applicant who applied for the refugee status to a country where he/she would be threatened by the risk of torture, inhuman treatment or death penalty for reasons of race, nationality, religion, political opinions, or membership in a particular social group is not allowed. However, the benefit of current provisions may not be claimed by a refugee about whom there are reasonable grounds to look upon him/her as a danger to the security of the Slovak Republic, or who has been condemned for an especially serious intentional crime. By law, the length of the procedure in the first instance is three months. In practice, the majority of asylum-seekers leave the refugee centres few days after their registration and before the first interview is held. In all these cases the procedure is then terminated. For those who remain the interviews are conducted by the Migration Office within a given period after lodging the application. The second instance (Regional Court) and the possible Supreme Court revision of the administrative decisions taken within the procedure last several months to over a year owing to the thorough investigation of facts (Aschenbrennerová 2002). The Ministry of Interior rejects an application as inadmissible if the applicant comes from a country considered by the Slovak Republic to be a safe third country (this is not applicable when this country cannot be considered such or when the applicant cannot be effectively returned to a safe third country) or from a safe country of origin. The list of the safe third countries is given in the Government Directive No. 716/2002 on List of the safe third countries and the safe countries of origin (as the successor to legal norms No. 168/2000 and No. 67/1996). In conformity with the Act on Asylum, an applicant for asylum is obliged to arrive at a reception refugee centre within 24 hours since making the statement on asylum. A reception centre means a facility under the administration of the Ministry of Interior, in which the applicants stay during the quarantine for the time necessary to carry out essential health care measures. This time lasts usually up to one month. At the end of the quarantine period and prior to the decision on the refugee status, the applicant is accommodated at an accommodation centre, where he/she is provided with accommodation, food, elementary medical care and pocket money. After the positive decision on granting asylum, a refugee enjoys in the Slovak Republic fundamental human rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution, and has the same rights and duties as Slovak citizens, unless these are explicitly granted only to them. For example, the right to vote for the refugees is limited merely to the local and regional authorities of self-government. As emphasised in interview No. 16, it would be more contributional, if the refugees had also the right to vote national representatives. Among the positive properties of the Act on Asylum belongs a circumstance that there 87 is no difference between the migrants who applied for asylum after a legal entry, and those applying for asylum as irregular migrants. It is still an asylum seeker fulfilling the specified legal requirements, or not. But there are deliberations about a certain arrangement of this way. It means that if an undocumented migrant applies for granting asylum in connection with the process of his/her expulsion from Slovakia being already under way, this application will be quite soon judged in his/her disfavour. According to interviews No. 26 and No. 27, migrants alone see one of the greatest drawbacks of the Act – besides the slowness of the asylum procedure - in the impossibility to work during the asylum procedure. Working could help them rise their pocket money and perhaps also bring to a given region an offer of cheap labour force. In terms of interaction among various subjects in the field of asylum issues, for instance, UNHCR–Slovakia appreciates mutual co-operation with the Government in the recent period. On the other side, some NGOs state that there exist many problematic areas between the state and other institutions in care for asylum seekers.25

As a significant complementary document may be deemed the National Action Plan for the Matters of Asylum (in Migration Office 2003), from 1999-2000. The Plan sets objectives to improve the situation within the next domains: Access to the asylum procedure, Harmonisation with 1951 Geneva Convention on the legal status of refugees, Independent appeal, Protection against expulsion and deportation from the country, Manifestly unfounded applications, Accelerated procedure, Safe third countries and safe countries of origin, Rights and duties of refugees, Family reunification, and Institutional and professional capacity. Most of the discrepancies in these points with international legal norms on asylum have already been resolved in the new Act on Asylum; some remaining ones should be corrected as soon as possible.

5.4.2 Migration policy of Slovakia Immediately after the establishment of the Slovak Republic in 1993, there arose a need to deal with the matters of migrants in the country in an effective and comprehensive way. Therefore, the Government of the country by its Resolution No. 501/1993 from July 13, 1993 founded the Migration Office of the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic. Not less important can be a fact that in order to meet requirements of international obligations, the Government also passed Principles of the Migration Policy of the Slovak Republic by its Resolution No. 846/1993. These Principles reflected an objective reality at that time (Karabinoš / Balga 1997). The forms and methods of implementing the principles of Slovak migration policy were thus derived from it. In this manner, the Slovak Republic conforms to the following principles: 1. Obligation of the country to respect the basic human rights and liberties. 2. Respect to universally valid principles of the international law and international agreements adjusting the legal regime of foreigners at observing reciprocity and equality.

25 Pointed out in discussions with representatives of UNHCR–Slovakia and respective NGOs in the field 88 3. Enforcement and the support of co-ordinated common steps of the international community, which react flexibly to the migration trends notably in Central and Eastern Europe. 4. Mutual continuity in the solution of migration questions with searching for and applying of steps in order to ensure the security, stability and peaceful co-existence of countries, a qualitatively new international collaboration based on the trust and mutual understanding of countries, above all in Europe. 5. Subordination of foreigners to the sovereign power of the Slovak Republic and the respect to its legal order. 6. Legal regulation of migration matters and the application of these legal amendments. 7. Sovereign right of the Slovak Republic to make decisions on the entry of foreigners into its territory realised by the application of visa policy. 8. Balance in the extent of humanitarian help provided to the refugees, refugees de facto and displaced persons with the economic possibilities and social potential of the country. 9. Comprehensive and co-ordinated solution of the migrants’ situation by relevant authorities, organisations and institutions. 10.Implementation of a stricter regime, control and technical measures preventing from undesirable migration.

Already ten years elapsed since the adoption of these Principles of the Migration Policy of the Slovak Republic. Hence, it is natural that some of the provisions or their parts do not entirely coincide with the contemporary situation in the world, nor in the region. A new document on this topic should perhaps more accentuate a new comprehension of migration as a right of man to move, the superiority of some international legal norms over national laws, the accession of Slovakia into the European Union, new visa policy, the creation of the Schengen area, the better protection of outer borders, the tremendous increase of economic migration, etc.

5.5. Conclusion When illustrating some opinions of experts or authorities in the field of migration in the Slovak Republic from in-depth interviews – with the exception of integration policy that will be evaluated in the following chapter – this may be concluded: Currently, state migration policy is not much resounding and the public is not much informed about it. A progress is apparent in the formation and harmonisation with the EU of legal norms for the stay and movement of aliens or for the granting of asylum in the very last years. These legal norms have such obtained a European character and quality. It is certainly an extremely significant point, a basis of all other domains. However, state migration policy should comprise an elaborate approach, not only the preparation of legal norms, whatever important, topical and broad they are. It should more cover a set of responsible subjects operating in synergy along with conceptual intentions, a legislative plan, information systems, public relations and the like. Hitherto, except for the elaboration of laws, state migration policy is not sufficiently publicly presented and little updated. Especially, it is not aimed in a pro-immigration 89 way. It seems that without the process of integration of the country into the European Union, the Slovak Republic would have reacted slower and to a lesser extent. Some state institutions claim that there is a considerable endeavour to constitute satisfactory conditions for an economically productive part of legal migrants and to create barriers to the influx of questionable migrants, coming legally or not (as underlined in interview No. 4). But it could be controversial and inexact to define and divide them ahead who is who. Some other central organisations (e.g., within interview No. 6) express the opinion that co-ordination among all parties involved in this area is not sufficient. Such a heterogeneity of views cannot be much contributory. On the other side, there are strong feelings – more or less warranted - from the side of NGOs that their position in the sphere of migration matters and care for migrants generally is little appreciated and their activities little respected by the corresponding state authorities. The NGOs are not accepted by them for an adequate partner in the game and the state does not want to financially co-support the migration projects of NGOs in Slovakia.26

26 Opinions of all four main NGOs active in the treatment of migrants in the country 90 6. Integration policies and practices

This chapter will concern mostly asylum seekers and refugees in the Slovak Republic, because it has no sense to speak much about integration in the case of irregular migrants. As well, the aliens living in the territory of Slovakia under the Act on Stay of Aliens take part in activities in places where they dwell, work or study either in communities of equal persons (more or less enclosed communities of families, workers, perhaps students). Or more probably, they stay in the social groups of a combined nature, living not secluded from citizens of Slovak origin. Therefore, attention will further primarily be focussed on asylum seekers and people with the status of refugee, though mentioning – where relevant – also other categories of migrants.

6.1 Particular geographic concentration of migrants The asylum seekers in the Slovak Republic being under the 1-month quarantine are concentrated at three reception refugee centres and those waiting for the decision on asylum may be found at two accommodation centres. Map 1 (see appendix) depicts their position in the territory of Slovakia. As one may see, from the geographical viewpoint both kinds of centres are situated above all in the west and south of the country. An accommodation refugee centre in Central Slovakia (at Jazierce) was closed as of March 1, 2003; another reception centre is planned to be opened in Eastern Slovakia near the city of Humenné in early 2004. The current state of asylum seekers in the country at the centres accounts for 470 individuals (June 2003); the optimum capacity is over 700. The overall potential of refugee centres in the Slovak Republic is shown in Table 55:

Table 55. Capacity for asylum seekers at the Slovak refugee centres, mid-2003 Location Kind of refugee Optimum capacity Maximum capacity centre in persons in persons Adamov reception 80 200 Opatovská Nová Ves reception 150 150 Rohovce reception 140 150 Brezová pod Bradlom accommodation 100 150 Gabčíkovo accommodation 240 400 Jazierce* accommodation 150 240 * = closed since March 1, 2003 Source: Internal documents of the Migration Office 2003

It is true that, on the one hand, the geographical distribution of reception and accommodation centres copies the most frequent occurrence of undocumented migrants (except for those passing the borders from Ukraine). On the other hand, this circumstance – i.e., the position of centres in the relative vicinity of Austria and the Czech Republic – may lead to easier (repeated) escapes of asylum seekers from the centres towards these destinations since a much more free regime exists at the centres of the Migration Office than at the detention centres of the Border and Alien Police. 91 The number of refugees in Slovakia is too low to look for their more significant concentrations. It is understandable that most of them are concentrated in larger Slovak towns, where they can find a job or can study, or in municipalities with appropriate housing available. Perhaps, the geographical distribution of persons within the individual categories of stays of aliens could be also interesting. This is demonstrated in Table 56:

Table 56. Geographical distribution of aliens by categories of stay and regions of the Slovak Republic, end of 2002 Category of stay BA BB NR TT TN KE PO ZA Number permanent 2,790 1,506 1,616 1,341 1,059 2,469 1,806 1,410 13,997 long-term 1,418 583 478 679 325 574 278 282 4,617 temporary 2,871 384 546 562 347 1,089 462 455 6,716 registered 537 59 62 59 113 71 59 90 1,050 next permanent 638 387 383 293 209 417 565 219 3,111 tolerated 0 0 0 6 1 3 4 0 14 Total 8,254 2,919 3,085 2,940 2,054 4,623 3,174 2,456 29,505 BA = region of Bratislava, BB = region of Banská Bystrica, NR = region of Nitra, TT = region of Trnava, TN = region of Trenčín, KE = region of Košice, PO = region of Prešov, ZA = region of Žilina Source: Office of Border and Alien Police 2003

The concentration of foreigners in and around the city of Bratislava is natural, because of the highest number of labour and business possibilities as well as education facilities in the capital. For the same reason, the 2nd position has been achieved by the region of Košice as this city with good infrastructure is the 2nd largest in the Slovak urban system. The concentration of foreigners in the chief urban regions is not unique to Slovakia and is paralleled by the similar, albeit less pronounced concentrations of aliens in Hungary and the Czech Republic (IOM et ICMPD 2002).

6.2 Legal framework for integration A fundamental document forming legal space for the integration of persons with the refugee status or of asylum seekers with a high chance to be granted asylum is represented by the ”Comprehensive solution of the integration process of foreigners with the recognised status of refugee into society”. This document was adopted by the Government Resolution No. 105/1996. The document, stemming from the principles of migration policy of the Slovak Republic and concrete economic and social conditions in the country, specifies the cardinal domains of care for foreigners with the recognised status of refugee, the level of solution and the ways of implementation as well as the legislative framework of conditions which have been created by the Slovak Republic for the integration of this group of migrants. It is a starting point for the elaboration of programmes, implementation projects, and concrete system measures all aiming at the speediest and most effective integration process (cf. Balga 2001; Csámpai / Haládik 2002). The Migration Office of the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic is responsible for the solution and implementation of integration of foreigners with the recognised 92 refugee status into society. Within these tasks, the Migration Office closely collaborates with IOM, UNHCR, governmental and non-governmental entities involved directly or indirectly in the integration process of refugees. The following areas are in the foreground of attention within integration: 1. Assistance in searching for job opportunities 2. Looking for and ensuring corresponding social housing 3. Teaching the Slovak language 4. Organisation of education and re-qualification courses 5. Social and health care provision 6. Forming conditions to accept migrants in municipalities by self-government authorities and local inhabitants

6.3 Activities of non-governmental organisations in short An important institutional component assisting in the sphere of integration of asylum seekers and refugees in the Slovak Republic is represented by non-governmental organisations. They act mostly in co-operation with UNHCR, on the basis of its grants. Currently, there are four main NGOs in the country helping to facilitate the life of given migrants. They differ according to the territory of operation and activities performed. In the region of Western Slovakia, it is Slovak Humanitarian Council.27 It ensures assistance to asylum seekers just after their apprehension at the borders, to asylum seekers at the refugee centres as well as to refugees. At the refugee centres, Slovak Humanitarian Council provides social and psychological consultancy, material gifts, clothes, then organises various courses or labour, educational, recreational, sport and cultural activities. The Council assists in searching for jobs and housing to refugees. By data available from the S.H.C., they assisted around 2,000 persons in 2002 (Internal overview and estimate of Slovak Humanitarian Council). In the region of Central Slovakia, Björnson Society in Slovakia28 is active. It lays prime emphasis upon assisting in the integration of refugees and assistance to asylum seekers in Central Slovakia. The Society thus ensures for them social assistance and consultancy, the teaching of the Slovak language, the education of pupils, re-training courses, psychological consultancy, the organisation of social and recreational activities, material collections. It also helps in finding adequate housing for the target group of migrants. In 2002, the Society assisted some 300 persons (Internal information of Björnson Society in Slovakia). In the region of Eastern Slovakia, it is Goodwill People Society.29 It is analogically aimed at supporting asylum seekers and refugees. Its activities are reflected in the provision of health and social assistance, psychological consultancy, legal advice and protection, education of students, material help, re-training courses, unrepeated financial succour and scholarships. In 2002 this Society assisted 528 persons (Internal statistics and documents of Goodwill People Society in Slovakia). Slovak Helsinki Committee30, among other things, renders free legal assistance to

27 Homepage: www.shr.sk 28 Homepage: www.bjornson-rbk.sk 29 Homepage: www.cassovia.sk/sldv 30 Homepage: www.shv.sk 93 asylum seekers and refugees in (Western) Slovakia. It helps these migrants in many legal domains, even represents them within lawsuits in the Supreme Court. Furthermore, the Committee monitors the breaking of human rights at the detention centre of Medveďov. In 2002, the number of legal interventions achieved almost 370 (Internal report of Slovak Helsinki Committee). It has to be stressed in this place that the process of integration for the aforesaid categories of migrants would be much difficult, if not impossible without the everyday hard work of NGOs.

6.4 Integration in practice

6.4.1 Asylum seekers a) Information level Besides official oral information by law from representatives of the refugee centres and NGOs assisting there, the Migration Office prepared a useful tool for asylum applicants and refugees comprising more information on various topics. It is a brochure entitled Guidebook for asylum seekers and refugee status granted migrants in the territory of the Slovak Republic (Migration Office 2001). The guidebook furnishes basic information on the asylum procedure with the explanation of terms, character of the procedure, right and duties of asylum applicants, granting the refugee status etc. The second chapter of the guidebook deals with the integration of refugees in multifarious areas and then the brochure offers a brief description of activities and addresses of international and non- governmental organisations concerned in Slovakia. Much welcome are informational presentations by the Migration Office about the Slovak Republic. The asylum seekers receive introductory information on the country, people and habits. b) Health care and social services As already mentioned above, asylum seekers - being under the quarantine at a reception centre in Slovakia – undergo a medical examination containing an entry medical screening, blood tests for the identification of infectious diseases and liver affections, a roentgen of lungs, a test for sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. At the accommodation centres, health care for asylum applicants continues. There is a nurse on duty at a reception refugee centre for the needs of asylum applicants; in more urgent cases patients visit a local doctor who examines them and prescribes necessary treatment (Internal documents of the Migration Office 2003). Special care is aimed at the elderly, the handicapped, women, pregnant women and women with children, or unaccompanied minors. Here not only medical treatment is ensured, but also education to parenthood, care for children and family, sound alimentation and the like. In certain cases, elementary hygienic habits are absent with asylum seekers, so such an education is executed, too. A certain shortcoming is that there are no psychologists at the refugee centres. Therefore, NGOs help mediate psychological consultancy for those who are in need. Such a situation happens not only owing to negative experiences during migration, but also because of the stereotype during long stay and waiting for the decision at the centres. 94 Social workers at the centres help asylum seekers also with administrative issues, provide general information and more specified personal, family and other consultations, and solve conflict situations (ibidem).

c) Education The course of the Slovak language is ensured at the refugee centres. The asylum seekers may attend the course during their stay at an accommodation centre until the final decision on their application is delivered. Certainly, this possibility is much contributory to migrants. However, it seems that the frequency of the course is not high (2 times 2 lessons a week) and subsequently their quality as well. In addition, merely 25% of asylum seekers participate in the Slovak language courses, which is a rather insufficient share (Internal documents of the Migration Office 2003). Except for the language course, the asylum applicants have an opportunity to attend (re- )training courses in several domains. Among these are, for example, computer courses, sewing and handicraft courses for women, driving license courses, welder courses or others according to possibilities of NGOs that organise such courses. Sometimes, it is difficult to gather a sufficient number of persons for a course or there is an interest in hardly feasible kinds of courses. Some NGOs also operate kindergartens for children and assist in school education for pupils, which is compulsory.

d) Employment According to the Act on Asylum and the Act on Employment, the asylum seekers are not allowed to work or to do any business until they are granted the status of refugee. This is a circumstance that is largely and often criticised by migrants proper, some experts or NGOs. The organised (re-)training and language courses may be considered to be a good preparation for the entry into the Slovak labour market later.

e) Cultural, recreational and sport activities The refugee centres are equipped with libraries, TV sets, playgrounds for sport and recreational activities (ibidem). Trips to municipalities in the cadastral territories of which the centres are situated, but also to, e.g., Bratislava are organised with the aim to present migrants Slovak realities. Children are given toys. Here the role of NGOs is essential, too.

6.4.2 Refugees The integration process supposes an individual approach from the side of the respective institutions and also a feedback. Thus personal contacts form a basis for entry into the societal structures and help create an appropriate environment for socially stimulating relations. In this context, the process of integration of refugees is in Slovakia divided into three phases31:

31 Freely adapted according to the pertinent documents of the Migration Office 95 I. The first phase has two alternatives: a) either the refugee is placed to an integration centre in the city of Zvolen for the period of 6 months where he/she is taught Slovak and the assistance of social workers is aimed at making contacts with various offices and at overcoming the cultural and social barriers, or b) the migrant – after being granted the refugee status – cares him/herself for existence by virtue of own decisions, abilities and possibilities. This concerns more those who have a background in Slovakia, are able to communicate in Slovak or are students. II. The second phase includes three alternatives: a) the refugee may apply for granting a flat from the apartment stock available. There are dwelling units in the towns of Zvolen, Ružomberok, Lučenec, Košice and Modrý Kameň at disposal. In addition, comprehensive social assistance is rendered to him/her in collaboration with competent non-governmental organisations, particularly in the field of searching for employment, but not only; b) the refugee may apply for temporary residence in a lodging house in Bratislava for the maximum period of 1 year. This is primarily determined for those working or studying in the capital of Slovakia; c) in case that the refugee finds an adequate housing independently, he/she may apply for a subsidy from the UNHCR sources. This is provided to start with building saving, as a support to find permanent residence, or to ensure housing at least for 1 year. III. The third phase is called the post-integration phase. Within it, material and financial assistance is limited to the period of 3 years since the time of granting asylum. Students of universities have a special position until the completion of their study. The focus in this third phase is laid on social and legal consultancy and administrative help. Good collaboration between the Migration Office on the one side and UNHCR or relevant NGOs on the other side is extremely important for the process of integration. A significant place has also international co-operation with the exchange of experience with some German or Austrian institutions. This all makes the future of a rational and efficacious system of integration, as declared by pertinent documents of the Migration Office.

6.4.3 Evaluation of integration policies and practice After presenting the framework of integration policy and practices for certain groups of migrants in the Slovak Republic, the opinion may be confirmed that there exists a potential to develop this realm more dynamically. Hitherto integration policy and practices react more to the preceding numbers and demands of asylum seekers and refugees from several years ago. But the quantitative and qualitative characters of migration movements to Slovakia have been changed in the past years and trends suggest that such a development will continue in the years to come. The integration of asylum applicants and refugees legally still issues from a Government Resolution of older origin (No. 105/1996) that was then unable to suppose the acceleration in the numbers of these migrants and their warranted needs. It is high time to elaborate new principles in this domain corresponding to policy and practices in more advanced countries. As the Migration Office of the Ministry of Interior (state authority responsible for the asylum procedure and the integration of refugees) refers to in interview No. 2, 96 “the migration policy of Slovakia, notably in the field of refugees’ integration into society is very favourable, helpful, aimed at all areas of refugees’ life. The acceptance of refugees, their access to the labour market, education, housing, health and social care are facilitated to a maximum extent”. This institution sees sizeable reserves in the work of non- governmental organisations, above all in supporting activities of social work within the facilities of the Office. Co-operation between both sides should be more open, the duplicity of some activities reduced, services to clients better co-ordinated, unrealistic ambitions waived. Some other state institutions (e.g. the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic in interview No. 4) offer a more careful standpoint claiming that Slovak policy in the region of integration of foreigners is just headed towards the protection of the rights of foreigners staying in the country for a long time and for the development of relations with native citizens. However, the opinions of experts, NGOs or IGO are more critical. According to them, the state does only the necessary things in this sphere, though it is the official guarantor and executor of integration policies. More is realised by the non-governmental sector and international organisations; the implementation of integration visibly rests on them. Lesser attention from the state is especially paid to social, cultural and educational needs of those being integrated; language preparation is weak, labour opportunities limited, housing difficulties persist. Of course, NGOs do not have means to resolve it generously enough. Simply, plans and conceptions are obviously not adapted for the current time.32 As is evident, the both sides have rather different views of their roles in the integration of migrants. In the light of achieved effects this could be secondary, eventually - let the migrants assess. Their words are not much flattering. One may conclude this subchapter by an expression of a former migrant: “Good portion of work has been done, but it is not sufficient in any case. The main problem is that a migrant after granting asylum does not find him/herself in a situation being economically able to live independently in the Slovak Republic. This is also the reason why most of those granted the status of refugee have gone away.” These are words worth of considering…

6.5 Freedom of religion The freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution in Slovakia. Nobody is prevented from practising his/her confession. However, in respect to a higher number of foreigners from Muslim countries and their biggest concentration in Bratislava, the existence of a little mosque would be natural, here. Several attempts were already initiated to obtain a building permit for it, but without success. Due to it, certain houses thus serve as places of worship.

6.6 Participation of migrants in civic and political life In the Slovak Republic, in conformity with the Slovak Constitution and other domestic and international legal norms, the aliens have the rights to life, personal integrity, liberty, privacy, free movement, stay in the territory of the country (under certain

32 As accentuated in interviews with several experts, respective NGOs and a representative of UNHCR-Slovakia in the country 97 conditions) and free departure from the country, the freedom of thinking, conscience, religion and faith, the freedom of expression and information, the right to petition, assemble, associate and other basic human rights. The foreigners also have the electoral right, but only those with permanent stay and the persons granted asylum in the territory of Slovakia. However, this applies merely to the organs of local and regional self-government (Balga 2002) with a little chance to influence civic life in the settlements. Owing to it, the participation of migrants particularly in political life is practically nonexistent. The non-natives of Slovakia are not allowed to vote, e.g., into the National Council; this possibility is given after granting Slovak citizenship only. In this sense, the participation of any migrants on the political scene does not exist, since there are no lobbies or groups acting for their benefit. As a consequence, there are not political entities defending the rights of migrants. The participation of migrants proper on the political scene of Slovakia is thus a question of a more remote future. The possibility to establish migrants’ associations and their activities is defined by law and this topic was outlined in the above chapters. But to date, it seems that these activities represent all concerning migrants from the aspect of civic life. The degree of immigrants’ participation in, for example, the managements of enterprises, institutions, societies, work collectives and so on is indiscernible. A cardinal reason is that this has no tradition in Slovakia, another lies in the described level of xenophobia in the country. The society is not prepared for that yet. Nevertheless, it will be a must sooner or later. The incorporation of migrants into society first requires their participation in local structures – political, economic, cultural, religious, others. Especially significant is the participation of younger migrants in local civic activities as a certain point of departure for attaining the equality of migrants in Slovakia.

6.7 Best practices in the treatment of migrants As a positive example of the integration of migrants, in this case of displaced persons, may serve the already depicted re-settlement of around 1,200 persons from Ukraine in the 1990s, from areas endangered by the catastrophe in Chernobyl. They or their ancestors had roots in Slovakia so they just came back to the original motherland. In the large majority of cases, these people have been very well integrated into society. Another good act was represented by an effective assistance to 2,400 de facto refugees from countries of former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The Slovak Republic offered them a temporary shelter with comprehensive care. Those who were unable to return were given by the Government a chance to remain in the country according to the Act on Stay of Aliens or Act on Refugees. In 1999, a temporary shelter was rendered also to hundreds of Kosovars. From the legal aspect, it seems to be quite a favourable fact that all persons granted asylum obtain a permanent stay permit and mostly Slovak citizenship after the next five years. This succession can be denoted as the successful culmination of the integration process in Slovakia.33 Further, as regards Roma migrants, a huge role in the last period has been played by the

33 Based on several in-depth interviews with officials and experts, as mentioned in the previous footnote 98 International Organisation for Migration in Bratislava. This mission assists in the return of Roma emigrants to the country and their re-integration into society. In the period of 2000 - 2002 IOM Bratislava (through its Field Office in the city of Košice) assisted in the return of 1,244 persons coming back mainly from Belgium, Finland and the Netherlands. Table 57 brings more detailed information on these returnees:

Table 57. Returnees of Roma origin to Slovakia by countries and period Year Returnees from Total Country Belgium Finland The Netherlands 2000 259 335 322 916 2001 89 5 59 153 2002 106 0 69 175 Total 454 340 450 1,244 Source: Internal reports of IOM-Bratislava Field Office Košice 2003

The re-integration of Roma returnees has been realised by means of, inter alia, personal visits to more than 300 families of returnees. In this way, IOM Bratislava helps resolve various, not only social difficulties of former Roma emigrants directly in the field. These IOM’s activities are much appreciated by the respective institutions and NGOs dealing with Roma issues. Finally, an activity of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic of a methodological and theoretical character could be mentioned as well. The Office has recently created an interdepartmental co-ordination and working group for the migration statistics problems. In a country where not all needful migration data are observed, published or easily accessible, this is remarkable. The working group concentrates representatives of all institutions engaged in the foreign migration matters (e.g. the Government Office, Migration Office, Ministry of Interior, Statistical Office, INFOSTAT, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, Ministry of Health, National Labour Office, etc.), which collect, produce and process data on migrants. The principal aim of this initiative is to co-ordinate, expand and improve activities in this area – to unite methodologies, to provide the latest information, to mutually complete data, to eliminate duplicity of work, to make a closer collaboration among and enhance the interconnectedness of the given institutions. IOM Bratislava has its representative in this group of professionals, too. 99 7. Conclusion and recommendations

7.1 Concluding remarks As can be concluded on the basis of data, trends, policies, laws, etc. demonstrated in the preceding texts passages, the Slovak Republic is currently in the turning point as to foreign migration. From a country in the state of Sleeping Beauty where particularly immigration had no massive nature, the number of asylum seekers was low, the quantity of aliens living and working in the country as well, Slovakia has been undergoing an important transformation in this domain during the past 2-3 years. A multitude of questions related to the process is obviously coming to the foreground. Figures referring to undocumented migrants and asylum applicants were tremendously multiplied – for instance, the growth of irregular migrants was from 2,182 persons (in 1993) to 15,235 persons (in 2002) and the number of asylum applicants rose from 96 persons (in 1993) to 9,743 persons (in 2002). This development found the state organisations not entirely prepared and other relevant subjects or common people surprised and embarrassed. A small country in Central Europe where migration did not represent – with the exception of Roma emigration – an issue of special discussions is changing now into a country where migration forms or should form a significant topic for the Government, politicians, experts, NGOs, journalists, inhabitants. As proven above, the inflow of legal or irregular migrants has been growing to an unexpected extent carrying with it a great acceleration of challenges. These concern not only the numbers of migrants proper, but are reflected essentially in the phenomena, processes, mechanisms and trends accompanying migration and influencing the life of autochthonous society in legal, economic, social, cultural, political, demographic and other dimensions. This situation calls for comprehensive, rapid, efficacious and rational solutions for the benefit of migrants and Slovak society itself. New approaches must be found to the treatment of migrants, their integration into society and everyday necessities, the legal norms to be in conformity with those in the EU, the perception of migrants by the Slovak population, true informing about migrants and their difficulties, the education of people to tolerance and assistance to migrants, etc. Analogically, a better border protection against the illegal entry of migrants (mainly following the Slovak accession into the EU) and more opportunities offered to aliens staying legally in the territory of Slovakia should be applied in the widest sense. Only after that the Slovak Republic may enter the community of states with a high-quality policy to and treatment of migrants. This all should be performed on the background of unified European migration and asylum policies. Slovak migration policy as a part of global dimension clarifies itself new objectives. The country requires the introduction of an effective, balanced and protective system for asylum seekers and refugees as well as the elaboration of measures conditioning the stay of aliens that live temporarily or permanently in Slovakia. Its alien and asylum policy has to be admissible for social, demographic, economic, cultural and other needs of the country. In this context, facets regarding employment policy will have a special position. National economy may profit from both the numbers of less qualified migrants searching for any job and the high-skilled experts from abroad. Migration as such will become in the future one of the contributive instruments to resolve the further societal development of Slovakia. 100 Immigration may have for Slovakia just positive consequences, negative ones are only those of a short-term character. From the economic and demographic viewpoints, the country will need more economically active persons since fertility in Slovakia is dropping and people ageing. The preparation of a young migrant for labour is not so expensive as the long education of a child for the same purpose. But the substantial thing is to suppress xenophobic attitudes hitherto rather spread in Slovakia. And also from cultural aspect, the future of the country - but also of the entire world - resides in multiculturality, so that Slovakia may not be isolated.

7.2 Brief summary At the end of this report, it is possible to recapitulate the cardinal results gained within the research conducted. This summarisation may form not only an overview of the fundamental findings in terms of foreign migration in the Slovak Republic, but also a basis to identify future trends and development and to outline corresponding recommendations to change/improve the current situation: 1. The Slovak Republic represents a country with the rich history of migration in the last 300 years. Four waves of emigration can be distinguished in the country: in the 18th century, within 1871-1914, in the between-the-wars period, and after WW2 to 1989. Reasons for emigration were primarily economic and social, but to a great degree political too. Hence, migration per se is not a strange process for the Slovak population. 2. After WW2, Slovakia firstly witnessed large migration shifts as, for example, the deportation of German inhabitants, the participation of Slovaks in the colonisation of the Czech borderland, the exchange of population between Slovakia and Hungary, the departure of a part of Ruthenians, or re-migration to the country. Following the onset of communism, migration abroad was rather restricted and that to the country observed with suspicion. Therefore no intensive foreign migration movements took place at that time. On the contrary, large migration between Slovakia and Czech Republic constituted a characteristic social-spatial phenomenon up to the split of Czechoslovakia. Despite a low extent of legal foreign migration, “illegal” migrants formed the fourth wave of mass migration from Slovakia in its modern history. According to estimates, until 1989 some 100,000 Slovaks emigrated from the country for political and economic reasons. 3. At present, the country witnesses prevailing immigration. Over the past decade, Slovakia became a country with positive migration balance figures. When taking into account the rapidly growing number of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers moving to/through the Slovak Republic, one may speak already about an immigration country. Although Slovakia has still more attributes typical of a transit country, some signs suggest that it might soon be a favourable target country, especially in association with its accession to the European Union. 4. Migration processes thus generally become an important factor for the development of Slovakia. The matters of foreign migration have so universal nature that it is necessary to analyse, assess and resolve them in a comprehensive and proper way. However, hitherto just a little attention has been paid to the phenomenon in the country by respective state institutions, other organisations, academic community, journalists, self-government and the like. 101 5. Since the establishment of independent Slovakia at the beginning of 1993, the overall migration balance (expressed as the number of persons changing their permanent residence) of the country has been positive. The main country as to the exchange of people in both directions is still the Czech Republic, but its share in the emigrated as well as the immigrated gradually decreases reaching some 32% of the total in 2002. Among the emigration countries for Slovaks belonged always in the last five years Germany, Austria, U.S.A., Canada, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Australia and Hungary. But as persons leaving Slovakia usually do not de-register themselves with relevant authorities, data particularly on these persons are distorted (underestimated) in such a degree that they are not satisfactory for analysis. 6. Data on the immigrated to the Slovak Republic are much more suitable for evaluations. The next countries have been always represented with the relative high numbers of immigrants in the past five years: Ukraine, Yugoslavia, U.S.A., Germany, Canada, Russia, Austria and Romania. Men form approximately 53% of all immigrated. Some 40% of migrants to Slovakia are at the age of 25-39; the fact that positively influences the age structure of the Slovak population. The immigrants at productive age constitute 80% of the total, which may indicate oncoming economic migration. 7. As far as undocumented migration in the Slovak Republic is concerned, its issues fall under the Border and Alien Police and the Act No. 48/2002 on Stay of Aliens. During the period of 1993–2002 many principal changes occurred in the field of undocumented migration. Changes refer above all to the substantially increased number of irregular migrants – from 2,182 persons (in 1993) up to 15,235 persons (in 2002). The growing trend of undocumented migration movements has a clear impact on Slovak society in view of the protection of borders, financial expenses to manage it, the treatment of migrants apprehended, costs for the asylum procedure, the fight against potential terrorism, etc. 8. Irregular migrants come to Slovakia chiefly from territories with weak economies or military and politically unstable regimes. More concretely, such aliens come notably from certain Asian countries (Afghanistan, China, India, Iraq, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iran), some countries of the former Soviet Union (Russian Federation – Chechnya, Moldavia, Armenia, Georgia) and certain African countries too (Somalia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone). The prevailing majority of migrants do not manifest interest to stay in Slovakia. They illegally enter the Slovak territory primarily through the Ukrainian or Hungarian borders and attempt to get across Austria or the Czech Republic to Western European countries. 9. International groups of traffickers and smugglers participate largely in undocumented migration in the Slovak Republic. Very probably the number of smuggled persons is several times higher than the number of apprehended ones. Smuggled are predominantly migrants from Asian countries. As regards trafficking in women and children, Slovakia is not a target country for these victims yet, but this problem is increasing. The fight against undocumented migration to Slovakia is ensured by the National Unit of Combating Illegal Migration that arose on April 1, 2002. 10. In terms of asylum seekers and refugees in the country, the quantitative growth of asylum seekers from 1992 has been tremendous - around 112-fold (87 applicants in 1992, 9,743 asylum seekers in 2002). The highest numbers of applicants come from Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Yugoslavia, Angola and Russia. 102 In most of the cases, the asylum procedure was suspended because respective asylum seekers left the country towards the west. In 1992-2002, merely 537 applicants were given the status of refugee, mainly to persons from Afghanistan, Iraq, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Armenia, Yugoslavia, Russia and Angola. 11. Most of the asylum seekers in the Slovak Republic are at the age of 18-25; about 90% of them are men. The typical profile of an applicant for asylum is – young, single, low- skilled man. Unaccompanied minors in the country represent increasingly an important group among the asylum seekers: around 20% (2002); the majority of them come from Asia. It is inevitable to recognise the significance of the phenomenon for Slovakia and to tackle it more effectively. 12. The legal norm covering the asylum matters in the Slovak Republic is the Act No. 480/2002 on Asylum. Institutionally, the responsible authority in the asylum issues in the country is the Migration Office of the Ministry of Interior. It also operates in the area of the integration of refugees into Slovak society. 13. The foreigners in the territory of Slovakia with a certain kind of permitted stay constitute another category of migrants. At present, the categories of permitted stay are according to the Act No. 48/2002 on Stay of Aliens as follows: permanent stay, temporary stay, (long-term stay), registered stay, tolerated stay. The number of aliens with any permit to stay in Slovakia reached 29,505 at the end of 2002, which accounts for 0.55% of the country’s total population. This figure is rather low in comparison with the shares of aliens in neighbouring countries. 14. The Border and Alien Police of the Ministry of Interior as the responsible authority in this field registers the foreigners in Slovakia from over 150 states of the world. Out of them, aliens from the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Russia, Germany, China and Bulgaria are the most numerous. 15. In view of the particular geographic distribution of migrants in Slovakia, especially that of aliens with permitted stay or refugees, the majority of them are concentrated in the regions of Bratislava and Košice. This is natural, due to the highest number of labour and business possibilities, good infrastructure as well as education facilities there. Such a concentration is not unique to Slovakia and is paralleled by similar, albeit less pronounced concentrations in Hungary and the Czech Republic. As for asylum seekers, all five reception and accommodation centres for them are entirely located in South-eastern Slovakia. This circumstance makes escapes of a multitude of asylum applicants towards the western borders much more realisable. 16. When ascertaining the push and pull factors for migrants - be they legal, undocumented, foreigners with a permit to stay or asylum seekers - to the Slovak Republic, the in-depth interviews were an essential aid. By them, the fundamental push factors are firstly hard economic and social conditions in the countries of origin, the lack of jobs, poverty; secondly unsafe life with persecution for racial, religion, ethnic or political reasons, the breaking of human rights and freedoms; thirdly military conflicts or danger; and then the other factors, e.g. natural disasters. 17. The cardinal pull factors of migrants entering the territory of Slovakia and wishing to stay in it are aspirations for a better economic life, intentions to multiply job and studies opportunities, to try to initiate entrepreneurial activities, to find a shelter. Relevant may also be cultural, religion and mental affinities to the Slovak environment along with easier language communication. Historically created relations to Slovak minorities in the neighbouring countries (Czech Republic, 103 Hungary, Poland, Ukraine), some CEE countries (Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria) or overseas countries (U.S.A., Canada, Argentina, Australia) cannot be omitted either. 18. The role of family, friends, acquaintances or migrants’ organisations in encouraging foreign migration to Slovakia is indisputable. They are also important during the phase of decision-making on departure from the country of origin and selecting a target country. Family/friend-based co-operation is above all evident in the country within such communities as Vietnamese, Afghanis, Ukrainians, former Yugoslav nationalities. Besides, several migrants’ associations work in the Slovak Republic; the most active and known among them is the Afghani Association in Slovakia. 19. As regards contemporary emigration from Slovakia of a mass character, it refers exclusively to the Roma ethnic group largely spread in the country. Slovak embassies in selected countries of Western Europe report approximately 19,500 asylum seekers from Slovakia (i.e. the Roma) in these countries within five last years. The most attended countries for this reason have been Belgium, the United Kingdom, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and the Czech Republic. However, the chances of the Slovak Roma to get asylum in the EU Member States is virtually zero. 20. On the basis of the interviews conducted with Roma returnees as well as non-Roma experts, it is apparent that the push factors for the Roma to leave the Slovak Republic are formed by a mixture of economic, social and political reasons. Experts stress more the economic ones; while Roma accentuate discrimination, racism, activities of skinheads, the wrong treatment from the side of the state or local self-government as well as current poverty, the lack of money, unemployment, housing and health problems, etc. As underlined by the interview with a high representative of a Roma association, it is chiefly a group of the most capable Roma individuals emigrating from Slovakia. 21. The questions of employing the foreigners, refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants are resolved by the Act No. 387/1996 on Employment in the wording of the next amended laws, by the Convention between Slovakia and the Czech Republic on the mutual employment of citizens as well as the Act No. 48/2002 and the Act No. 480/2002. Institutionally, it is the Ministry of Labour, Social and Family of the Slovak Republic along with the organs of the National Labour Office that regulate the employment of aliens in the territory of Slovakia. 22. At the end of 2002, 2023 Czech residents were registered as employed in the territory of Slovakia and 2,694 other foreigners had a valid work permit. The majority of permits were granted to aliens from Germany, Ukraine, U.S.A., United Kingdom, Austria, Poland, Russia, France and Italy. Other some 4.4 thousand foreigners (mostly those with temporary, long-term and registered stay) doing business with a license have to be added to the above given figures. Thus, in total around 9,100 non- Slovaks performed their work activities officially in the country in 2002, which makes around 0.34% of all economically active persons in the Slovak Republic. (No foreigners with permanent stay, persons with the status of refugee or foreign Slovaks are included in these statistics since they do not need a work permit.) 23. Most of the aliens from Western European countries work in Slovakia as high-skilled employees in such professions as manager of company, expert in various fields of the tertiary sector, lecturer and scientist at school and university, consultant, representative and similar position. Aliens from countries of the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Asia are often employed as small entrepreneurs (e.g. gastronomy), 104 retailers, vendors, construction or industrial workers (textile and cloth industry, shoe industry, food industry etc.), forestry, agricultural and auxiliary workers. 24. Data demonstrated relate purely to official employment. There exist no more detailed expert or institutional studies on the illegal work of aliens in Slovakia; very free estimates suggest the number of illegally employed migrants several times higher. Particularly a great number of Ukrainians, Poles, the Balkans nationals, Vietnamese or Chinese probably work without a permit in the Slovak Republic. 25. The labour migration of Slovaks abroad may be divided into three essential modes - long-term employment, regular commuting to work and short-term or seasonal works. Among the cardinal reasons for labour emigration of Slovak residents belong: disparity in the level of earnings (currencies), differences in the living standard and the high rate of unemployment in the country. Labour emigration accounts for around 100 thousand persons with work permits annually. At present, some 60 thousand of Slovaks work in the Czech Republic, 12 thousand in Germany, 5 thousand in Austria, then others in the United Kingdom, other European countries, and North America. 26. The general (labour) migration potential of Slovaks is quite high – basically every third active inhabitant of the country considers future migration abroad for a period over 1 month. The most preferred duration of stay is between 1 month and 1 year. The most preferred target countries for work migration are Germany and Austria. A more precise estimate of migration potential is on the level of at maximum 10% of economically active persons in the country, which equals to about 270,000 labour migrants. But the real migration potential seems to be only approximately 100,000 economic migrants from Slovakia, moreover distributed in a longer time interval. 27. Out of the non-economic effects of immigration to Slovakia, demographic impacts are so far absolutely negligible. In terms of the influences of migrants on the educational system in the country, the situation is partly similar - the shares of non-Slovak students range between 0.1-0.3% in various types of schools; the only exception is made by universities where a proportion of foreign students exceeds 1.5%. From the cultural viewpoint, migrants in the Slovak Republic have not ideal conditions for presenting and promoting their own cultures. Hitherto, due to the low number of migrants, only the personal dimension of cultural effects has been pronounced, i.e. mainly impacts on small groups or individuals. 28. The health state of migrants differs by categories of aliens - no medical specificities have been observed in the group of refugees and foreigners with permitted stays in Slovakia. The worse situation is with undocumented migrants; they quite often suffer especially from skin diseases and respiratory system infections. The situation with asylum seekers in Slovakia is already better. Both categories of migrants undergo a medical examination; its costs and subsequent treatment are a certain burden on the state budget. It was further proven that the occurrence of socio-pathological phenomena among the aliens does not constitute a special problem. 29. The criminality of aliens is much overestimated by many Slovak natives and no good atmosphere is built about this question. But the numbers and shares of clear-up offences committed by aliens (1.8% in the country’s total in 2002), of aliens charged by prosecutor’s offices (1.5%) or of those finally condemned by law courts (0.9%) do not represent more significant figures in the Slovak Republic, as documented. In addition, there is an apparent tendency of decrease in the share of aliens engaged 105 in committing delinquency and they usually commit less dangerous offences (except for drug trafficking). 30. In view of the perception of and public opinion on migrants in Slovakia, the situation is not positive. There are evident forms of at least xenophobia against migrants, sometimes multiplied by their discrimination in the country. Public opinion is mostly not favourable to migrants. Frequently just negative examples are illustrated by the media – positive cases are seldom shown. For example, almost 3/4 of respondents of one survey agree with the statement that refugees are costly to the Slovak Republic, 63% think that refugees contribute to the growth of criminality in Slovakia and 60% are convinced that refugees bring various diseases. Half the respondents hold the opinion that refugees should be sent back to the country of origin or to another country. Analogically, the negative perception of the Roma by the majority population is partly responsible for a higher willingness of the Roma to leave the country. 31. A specific position within the migrants to Slovakia have those with the granted status of foreign Slovak by the Act No. 70/1997 on Expatriate Slovaks. They have more privileges connected with entering the territory of the Slovak Republic, permanent stay granting, admitting to educational institutions, employing without work permits, acquiring Slovak citizenship, etc. The foreign Slovaks have also the right to own and acquire real estates in Slovakia. Within the period from mid-1997 to mid-2003, the status of foreign Slovak was granted to 9,126 persons. Its holders are from 38 countries, principally from Serbia, Romania, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Germany, U.S.A., Austria and Poland. Foreign Slovaks are above all at productive age, belonging to middle or lower classes, and their essential aim is to find an official job in the country. 32. As far as the acquisition of Slovak citizenship is concerned, by the Act No. 40/1993 on Citizenship of the Slovak Republic it can be granted to persons who have continuous permanent stay in the country for at least 5 years and speak the Slovak language, to those who married a Slovak citizen, or for reasons worth of particular attention. In 1993-2002, the total of 105,103 citizenships was granted. The residents of the Czech Republic reached almost 92% of this number, followed by citizens of Ukraine, Russia, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, U.S.A., Vietnam and Poland. Most of those from Czech Republic who applied for Slovak citizenship received it easily under special provisions (as former inhabitants of Czechoslovakia) but they continue living in their own country thus utilising the advantages of both citizenships. 33. The reunification of family is the most crucial reason to obtain permanent stay in the Slovak Republic. As of the end of 2002, out of the persons within all categories of permitted stays in Slovakia (29,505 cases) almost half of them – i.e. 13,559 – persons were granted a permit to stay in the country because of the family reunification. Some further thousands of stays that are permitted predominantly for entrepreneurship, employment or study purposes may be motivated in reality by various partnership relations as well. 34. There are two fundamental forms for the expulsion of a migrant or alien from the Slovak Republic – the administrative one and the judicial one. The former is a decision of the police for offences associated with the migrant’s entry into or stay in the country. The duration of consequent prohibited entry into Slovakia could be ten, five or one up to five years. The judicial expulsion is inflicted by the court and 106 constitutes the most serious kind of expulsion. It may be inflicted separately, or besides another punishment. A person once sentenced to judicial expulsion may never return to Slovakia. In 2002, 1,059 persons were expelled administratively and 60 judicially from the country. In addition, further 1,195 migrants fell under the readmission agreements of Slovakia. 35. The agenda of voluntary returns from the Slovak Republic belongs to the International Organisation for Migration – a mission in Bratislava, which ensures assisted returns for migrants wishing voluntarily go back home. From 1996 on, IOM- Bratislava has realised almost 300 assisted voluntary returns. In the years before 1999, it was a group of people originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina, refugees de facto, who were mostly returned home. Then, they were replaced chiefly by persons from Kosovo following the Kosovo crisis. From 2002 on, citizens of China, India and Chechnya prevail, which much corresponds to the most frequent nationalities within undocumented migration. 36. Within the migration matters in Slovakia, their general framework is represented by Principles of the Migration Policy of the Slovak Republic passed by the Government as the Resolution No. 846/1993. The Principles serve as a legal and operational guideline for the practical activities to tackle migration issues in the country. However, already 10 years elapsed since their adoption. Therefore certain provisions or their parts do not entirely coincide with the contemporary situation in the world, nor in Slovakia. A new document on this topic is necessary. By some experts, state migration policy as a whole is not sufficiently publicly presented and is only little updated. Above all, it is not aimed in a pro-immigration way. Such policy should comprise a more comprehensive approach covering a set of responsible subjects operating in synergy along with conceptual intentions, a legislative plan, information systems, public relations, and so on. 37. The integration of persons with the status of refugee in Slovakia is thematically discussed in a document entitled Comprehensive solution of the integration process of foreigners with the recognised status of refugee into society adopted by the Government Resolution No. 105/1996. Actually, integration concerns asylum seekers at the refugee centres, too. This document specifies the cardinal domains of care for the mentioned target groups: assistance with searching for job opportunities, looking for and ensuring social housing, teaching of the Slovak language, organising education and re-qualification courses, providing social and health care, forming preconditions to accept migrants by local self-government authorities and inhabitants. 38. Though the respective state institution (Migration Office) in Slovakia considers present integration policy satisfactory and elaborate, opinions gained through in- depth interviews from several experts, NGOs active in the field and especially migrants proper are critical. By them, problems lie primarily in social, cultural and educational needs of those being integrated, in their weak language preparation, limited labour opportunities, housing shortage as well as in a better mutual co- operation of all stakeholders. Conceptions and existing practices are here obviously not adapted for the present. Other problem resides in the restricted participation of migrants in civic and political life in the country, for instance. Both the foreigners with permanent stay and the refugees have the right to vote and to be voted, but only to the organs of local and regional self-government, not to the National Council. As a consequence, there are no political entities defending the rights of migrants. 107 39. Within the treatment of migrants in the Slovak Republic, non-governmental organisations constitute an important institutional component assisting in the area of integration and everyday needs of asylum seekers and refugees. They act basically in collaboration with UNHCR-Slovakia, supported by its grants, and with the Migration Office. Currently, there are four main NGOs in the country helping to facilitate the life of given migrants. They differ according to the territory of operation or activities performed. In the region of Western Slovakia it is Slovak Humanitarian Council, in Central Slovakia Björnson Society in Slovakia is active, Goodwill People Society works in the region of Eastern Slovakia. Slovak Helsinki Committee renders free legal assistance to asylum seekers and refugees in (Western) Slovakia. 40. Finally, some best practices in the treatment of migrants in the Slovak Republic could be shortly presented. Worth of mentioning are, e.g., the resettlement of around 1,200 displaced persons from Ukraine to Slovakia in the 1990s, effective assistance and a temporary shelter with complex care for 2,400 de facto refugees from countries of former Yugoslavia at the same time, then the assistance of IOM-Bratislava in the return of 1,244 Roma emigrants to the country and their re-integration into society in 2000-2002, the establishment of an interdepartmental co-ordination and working group for migration statistics on the ground of the Slovak Statistical Office. From the legal aspect, the fact that all persons granted asylum obtain a permanent stay permit and in most cases Slovak citizenship after the next 5 years is much appreciated by experts.

7.3 Recommendations A supposed economic development in the near future as well as legal and political commitments that the country has recently taken - also from the migration viewpoint - urge Slovakia to be prepared for a new situation responsibly and without any delay. For these purposes, several improvements should be done as soon as possible. According to us, we recommend thinking of changes, looking for advanced trajectories and elaborating new approaches in the following spheres (levels) related to foreign migration. Within most of them, the recommendations may be divided into the general ones and the concrete ones:

Budgetary level: - in relation to the relevance of the topic generally, it seems inevitable to raise the state budget, or regional budgets particularly in chapters devoted to resolving the migration issues

General institutional level: General recommendations - hitherto co-operation between individual authorities of the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, the Slovak NGOs concerned, UNHCR-Slovakia and IOM-Bratislava should be enhanced within given possibilities Concrete recommendations - an authority like the Governmental Commission for the Matters of Migrants (legal, irregular ones, asylum seekers, refugees, aliens, etc.), which could incorporate 108 important organisations such as the Government Office, Migration Office, Border and Alien Police, Interpol, other bodies of the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Culture, Parliament Committees and other institutions tackling the problems of migrants regularly and in a comprehensive way should be established

Border and Alien Police level: General recommendations - the protection of the borders of the Slovak Republic should be enhanced, above all in connection with the accession of the country into the EU and Schengen system, to fulfil the tasks and commitments within the corresponding international agreements on time - a more uncompromising fight against trafficking and smuggling in people, mainly women and children, is essential, along with paying more attention to these matters in society as a whole Concrete recommendations - the East Slovak border especially should be better protected. Both the border police directly working in the field and the National Unit of Combating Illegal Migration should be equipped by more sophisticated technical and communication means and reinforced with more skilled officers - inevitable factor is a quick and mass adopting and universal distributing of systems to identify clearly and to register undocumented migrants, searched persons and cars, falsified documents as EURODAC, BORIS, FADO and the like - the amount of financial means determined for medical care for (undocumented) migrants at the detentions centres at Medveďov and Sečovce should soon be increased to better a presently almost insupportable situation

Migration Office level: General recommendations - it is necessary to finish the building up the Office in view of finances provided for its activities by law and as to the number of high-skilled experts for migration issues employed there - it is also needed to improve co-operation between the Migration Office and non-governmental institutions rendering assistance to asylum seekers and refugees in their integration into society Concrete recommendations - in harmony with European laws on refugees, in collaboration with the Border and Alien Police and owing to the increasing numbers of asylum seekers, it is inevitable to complete a transit centre in the transit area of the Bratislava international airport where the applicant for asylum may be placed prior to his/her arrival to a reception centre

Level of migration, asylum and integration policies and practices General recommendations - it would be welcome to assess a quicker granting asylums to asylum seekers thus 109 motivating them not to escape from the country; even at the risk that this could be misused from the side of migrants - the numbers of aliens with permanent or temporary stay in the Slovak Republic should be undoubtedly raised in conformity with existing migration pressure and requirements of foreigners to work and study in the country, judging at the same time carefully the intended purposes of their stay in Slovakia - it seems positive to increase the number of aliens working in Slovakia, either those with an employment permit, or those with an entrepreneurship license, at least when not at variance with regional opportunities on the domestic labour market Concrete recommendations - it would be contributional to evaluate creating more generous conditions to the migrants with the status of refugee in terms of housing, education, social system, etc. according to their concrete needs in the country - assistance to refugees with labour opportunities should be improved and their concentration to larger settlements promoted instead of that to marginal Slovak regions - it is necessary to tighten up controls of work as regards migrants for the benefit of migrants working legally suppressing simultaneously those working illegally in the country - the granting of Slovak citizenship should be intensified and perhaps the period for the procedure shortened

Legislative level General recommendations - it is inevitable to harmonise all Slovak legal norms on migrants with those being in force in advanced countries of the European Union - the legal norms, however, should be not only amended but above all implemented in practice more effectively and smartly - it is required to harmonise Slovak visa policy with visa policies in operation in the EU and in accordance with the Schengen rules Concrete recommendations - it is needed to resolutely implement the recent proposed amendments of the Act on Stay of Aliens and the Act on Asylum in practice - it seems rather necessary to accelerate and complete an already prepared new Conception of state migration policy at the level of the Government. Covering all the areas and problems related to the growing numbers of migrants in a new situation, their human treatment and high-quality assistance should be Conception’s crucial attributes, in accordance with similar EU Member States migration policies - it is also unavoidable to update, broaden and improve the documents concretely resolving the integration of aliens of any category into Slovak society - it is essential to change legal norms pertaining to trafficking and smuggling with human beings towards a much stricter punishment of perpetrators - it is conditio sine qua non to stricter penalise the cases of discrimination and racism by the police, prosecutor’s offices, self-government organs 110 - it is inevitable to make a revision of current valid readmission agreements and to speed up further ones

Level of self-government General recommendations - it is required to enhance the degree of collaboration between the refugee centres and authorities in the respective municipalities so that asylum seekers may become a positively perceived factor in the territory of these municipalities Concrete recommendations - it would be suitable to organise occasional meetings among representatives of those municipalities where the concentration of aliens (foreigners with permitted stay, but mostly asylum seekers at the reception and accommodation centres) is the highest - it is also needed to raise co-operation among self-government bodies along and on both sides of the Slovak border to prevent a mass character of undocumented migration in those regions where this question is the most serious - it is necessary to raise the budget to those municipalities in the territories of which the detention, reception and accommodation centres for migrants lie and therefore these municipalities face various additional expenses, or to allocate them finances purpose- bound for activities related to the treatment of migrants

Level of public opinion General recommendations - it is more than necessary to change the adverse public opinion on migrants by the Slovak population in order to mitigate their negative perception, and to decrease the degree of xenophobia and discrimination in the country Concrete recommendations - it is much appropriate to conduct education at schools in a pro-migration way, to provide more positive examples in the media, to organise information, explanatory and supporting campaigns, to better collaborate with NGOs and self-government authorities in the corresponding municipalities, to promote personal immediate contacts of natives with migrants etc.

Level of migrants’ associations General recommendations - it is required to accentuate the positive role, functions and contribution of migrants’ associations in society Concrete recommendations - it could be contributional to promote in a legal way the wider establishment of this kind of associations - it seems suitable to activate a more intensive functioning of migrants’ associations in the Slovak Republic, among others through a financial assistance to them it would be useful to institutionally integrate migrants’ associations in the political life of municipalities. 111 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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(Eds.): Patterns of Migration in Central and Eastern Europe, London, Palgrave, 2001 Marošiová, L. / Gyárfášová, O. / Velšic, M.: Otvorené okná, Inštitút pre verejné otázky, Bratislava, 2000 Migration Office: Brief history of the Migration policy of the SR and introduction of the activities of the Migration Office, Bratislava, 2003 Migration Office: Guidebook for asylum seekers and refugee status granted migrants in the territory of the Slovak Republic, Bratislava, 2001 Migration Office: Koncepcia politiky zamestnanosti z aspektu migrantov v pôsobnosti MÚ MV SR, Bratislava, 1996 Migrácia obyvateľstva a migračná štatistika v podmienkach Slovenskej republiky, Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, Bratislava, 2003 MS SR: Štatistická ročenka 2002, Ministerstvo spravodlivosti Slovenskej republiky, Bratislava, 2003 Národná Obroda: Slovenskí prevádzači berú najviac za Číňanov, June 17, 2003 NIP: Správa o činnosti orgánov štátnej správy v oblasti inšpekcie práce a o stave ochrany práce v roku 2002, Národný inšpektorát práce, Bratislava, 2003 Nový Čas: Policajti chytia iba tretinu migrantov, June 17, 2003 NÚP: Výročná správa o činnosti a hospodárení Národného úradu práce za rok 2002, Národný úrad práce, Bratislava, 2003 Očenášová, E.: Kriminalita cudzincov na území Slovenskej republiky, Akadémia Policajného zboru SR, Bratislava, 2001 115 Office of Border and Alien Police: Legálna a nelegálna migrácia v Slovenskej republike za rok 2002, CD-rom, Bratislava, 2003 Office of Border and Alien Police: Legálna a nelegálna migrácia v Slovenskej republike za rok 2001, CD-rom, Bratislava, 2002 Office of Border and Alien Police: Štatistický prehľad legálnej a nelegálnej migrácie k 31. 12. 2000, CD-rom, Bratislava, 2001 Ondrišák, F.: Migrácia ako kriminogénny faktor trestných činov cudzincov, Akadémia Policajného zboru SR, Bratislava, 2002 Populační vývoj České republiky 1990-2002, Katedra demografie a geodemografie PvF UK, Praha, 2002 Reyniers, A.: Gypsy populations and their movements within Central and Eastern Europe and towards some OECD countries, OECD, Paris, 1995 Rhode, B.: Brain drain, brain gain, brain waste: reflection on the emigration of highly educated and scientific personnel from Eastern Europe. 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(Ed.): The New Geography of European Migration, Belhaven Press, London, 1993 Rievajová, E.: Dopad migrace a vstupních procesů do EU na příjmovou úroveň, Časopis o personalistice, práci a mzdě, # 2, 2002, internet version Rievajová, E.: Migrácia pracovnej sily zo SR, príčiny a dopady, Práca a sociálna politika, 9, # 12, 2001, pp. 7-10 Rimóczyová, K. / Hargašová, M.: Postoje mládeže v SR k problému intolerancie, Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva, Bratislava, 1994 Salt, J.: Current trends in international migration in Europe, Report to the Council of Europe, 2000 SME: Bezvízový režim pre občanov SR platí v 56 krajinách sveta, July 6, 2003 Srb, V.: Obyvateľstvo Slovenska 1918-1938, INFOSTAT, Bratislava, 2002 Stav a pohyb obyvateľstva v Slovenskej republike za rok 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, Bratislava, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Strhan, M. / Daniel, D. P. 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(Ed.): Populačný vývoj v Slovenskej republike 1999, INFOSTAT, Bratislava, 2000 Vaňo, B. (Ed.): Prognóza vývoja obyvateľstva SR do roku 2050, INFOSTAT, Bratislava, 2002 Vaňo, B.: The Demographic characteristics of Roma Population in Slovakia, INFOSTAT, Bratislava, 2001b Vašečka, I.: Migrácia Rómov zo Slovenska do krajín EÚ – príčiny a podnety, Sociológia, 33, # 5, 2001, pp. 457-471 Vašečka, M. / Jurásková, M. / Nicholson, T. (Eds.): Čačipen pal o Roma. A Global Report on Roma in Slovakia, Inštitút pre verejné otázky, Bratislava, 2003 Vašečka, M.: Rómovia. In Kolár, M. - Mesežnikov, G. (Eds.): Slovensko 2001. Súhrnná správa o stave spoločnosti, Inštitút pre verejné otázky, Bratislava, 2001 Viktoryová, J.: Cudzinci verzus vyhostenie podľa Trestného zákona, Justičná revue, 49, # 1, 1997, pp. 1-6 Vítek, J. / Poláček, R.: Prieskum rasovej a etnickej tolerancie žiakov a študentov na vybraných základných a stredných školách v Bratislave, Slovenský helsinský výbor, Bratislava, 2000 Vrábľová, S.: Cudzinci na trhu práce v Slovenskej republike v súčasnosti a po vstupe SR do EU, Práca a sociálna politika, 9, # 5, 2001, pp. 18-22 Vrchovský, M.: Prevádzačstvo nelegálnych migrantov, Justičná revue, 52, # 2, 2000, pp. 170-175 Vybrané údaje o regiónoch v Slovenskej republike 2002/4, Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, Bratislava, 2003 Vývoj obyvateľstva v Slovenskej republike 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, Bratislava, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Wallace, C. / Haerpfer, C. W.: Migration potential in Slovakia, Sociológia, 33, # 6, 2001, pp. 549-567 Williams, A. M. / Baláž, V. / Kollár, D.: Coming and going in Slovakia: international labour mobility in the Central European „buffer zone“, Environment and Planning A, 33, # 6, 2001, pp. 1101-1123 Zajac, Š. (Ed.): Vízia vývoja Slovenskej republiky do roku 2020, Prognostický ústav SAV, Bratislava, 2002a 117 Zajac, Š. (Ed.): Zborník analyticko-prognostických štúdií k prognóze rozvoja Slovenska do roku 2010, Prognostický ústav SAV, Bratislava, 2002b Zajacová, A.: New Slovak immigrants in New York: Social Networks and Adjustment, Sociológia, 32, # 3, 2000, pp. 257-272 ZAS: Afganistan známy - neznámy, Zväz Afgancov na Slovensku, Bratislava, 2002

Legal norms: Administrative Convention No. 109/2001 between the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family in Slovakia and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in the Czech Republic from 2001 to the Convention No. 317/1994 Convention No. 317/1994 between the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic on Mutual employment of citizens Czecho-Slovak Federal Assembly Act No. 455/1991 on Trade Law Government Directive No. 716/2002 – List of the safe third countries and the safe countries of origin Government Resolution No. 105/1996 – Comprehensive solution of the integration process of foreigners with the recognised status of refugee into society Government Resolution No. 501/1993 – Institutional complex solution of migration matters in the Slovak Republic Government Resolution No. 1001/2000 – Negotiation position of the Slovak Republic - Chapter 2: Free movement of persons Government Resolution No. 846/1993 – Principles of the Migration Policy of the Slovak Republic Government Resolution No. 835/2002 – Strategy of completing the protection of the State border of the Schengen type National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 403/2000 amending Act on Expatriate Slovaks (Act No. 70/1997) National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 311/2003 amending Labour Code (Act No. 311/2001) National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 117/2003 amending Penal Code (Act No. 85/2000) National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 311/2001 Labour Code National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 480/2002 on Asylum National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 387/1996 on Employment National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 70/1997 on Expatriate Slovaks National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 48/2002 on Stay of Aliens National Council of the Slovak Republic Act No. 85/2000 Penal Code Slovak National Council Act No. 40/1993 on Citizenship of the Slovak Republic Slovak National Council Constitutional Act No. 460/1992 - The Constitution of the Slovak Republic 118 APPENDIX 1.

THE LIST OF SUBJECTS WITHIN IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS MADE IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC

INSTITUTION/EXPERT/MIGRANT INTERVIEW No.

Officials: Office of Border and Alien Police of the Ministry of Interior 1 Migration Office of the Ministry of Interior 2 National Unit of Combating Illegal Migration 3 Ministry of Foreign Affairs 4 National Labour Office 5 Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family 6 Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic 7 UNHCR - Slovakia 8 Embassy of India 9 self-government - Municipal Office of Bratislava (large city) 10 self-government - Municipality of Brezová pod Bradlom (small city) 11

Experts: sociologist - Research Institute of Labour, Social Affairs and Family 12 geographer - Geographical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Science 13 demographer - INFOSTAT – the demographic centre 14 of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic ethnologist - Department of Ethnology, Philosophical Faculty, 15 University of St. Cyril and St. Method in Trnava politologist - Slovak Institute of International Studies 16 criminologist - Academy of the Police of the SR 17 expert - NGO–Björnson Society in Slovakia 18 expert - NGO–Society of Goodwill People 19 expert - NGO–Slovak Helsinki Committee 20 expert - NGO–Slovak Humanitarian Council 21 journalist of the PRAVDA newspaper 22

Migrants: migrant – a representative of the Afghani Association in Slovakia 23 migrant with Slovak citizenship granted 24 migrant with asylum granted 25 migrant – a current asylum seeker being in the asylum procedure 26 at the accommodation centre of Gabčíkovo (man) migrant – a current asylum seeker being in the asylum procedure 27 at the accommodation centre of Gabčíkovo(woman) representative of the Roma Parliament in Slovakia 28 migrant – a returned Roma from Benelux (man) 29 migrant – a returned Roma from Benelux (woman) 30 119 APPENDIX 2

Map 1. Detention and Refugee Centres in Slovakia in 2003

Accomodation Refugee Camp Closed Accomodation Planed Reception Refugee Brezová pod Bradlom Refugee Camp Jazierce Camp Humenné

Reception Refugee Camp Adamov • Žilina • Trenčín •Prešov • Banská Trnava Bystrica •Košice •

Bratislava • • Nitra Detention Centre Sečovce

Reception Refugee Camp Opatovská Nová Ves

Reception Refugee Camp Detention Centre Accomodation Refugee Rohovce Medveďov Camp Gabčíkovo

Source: The author with information from the Migration Office and the Office of Border and Alien Office, 2003

Graph 1. Foreign migration in Slovakia within 1990–2002

Source: Vývoj obyvateľstva v Slovenskej republike, 1991-2003 120

Graph 2. Top 10 countries of official emigration from Slovakia in 1998–2002

country Source: Stav a pohyb obyvateľstva v Slovenskej republike, 1999–2003

Graph 3. Top 10 countries of immigration to Slovakia in 1998–2002

country Source: Stav a pohyb obyvateľstva v Slovenskej republike, 1999–2003

Graph 4. Irregular migrants to and from Slovakia in 1993–2002

Source: Office of Border and Alien Police, 2003 121

Graph 5. Monthly course of irregular migrants in Slovakia within 2000–2002

Source: Internal monthly statistics of the Office of Border and Alien Police, 2001, 2002 et 2003

Graph 6. Irregular migrants at the borders of Slovakia in 2000–2002

Source: Office of Border and Alien Police, 2001, 2002 et 2003 122

Graph 7. Undocumented migrants in Slovakia in 2002 by numbers; top 10 countries of origin

Source: Internal statistics of the Office of Border and Alien Police, 2003

Graph 8. Development in the numbers of irregular migrants in Slovakia during 2000-2002; top 7 countries of origin

Source: Internal statistics of the Office of Border and Alien Police, 2001, 2002 et 2003

Graph 9. Foreigners with permitted stays in Slovakia in 2002 by numbers; top 10 countries of origin

Source: Internal statistics of the Office of Border and Alien Police, 2003 123

Graph 10. Development in the various categories of stays of foreigners in Slovakia within 1994–2002

Source: Office of Border and Alien Police, 2003

Graph 11. Asylum seekers in Slovakia during 1992–2002

Source: Internal statistics of the Migration Office, 2003 124

Graph 12. Number of persons with asylum granted in Slovakia within 1992–2002

129

67 65 56 55 49 39 27 18 20 11

Source: Internal statistics of the Migration Office, 2003

Graph 13. Age structure of asylum seekers in Slovakia within April - December 2002

Source: Internal monthly statistics of the Migration Office, 2002 and own calculations

Graph 14. Gender structure of asylum seekers in Slovakia in 2002 by months

Source: Internal monthly statistics of the Migration Office, 2002 125

Graph 15. Development in the rate of unemployment in Slovakia in 1998-2002; as of the end of year

Source: Internal statistics of the National Labour Office, 2003

Graph 16. Structure of clear-up offences committed by aliens in Slovakia in 2002 by country of perpetrator's origin

Source: Internal statistics of the Ministry of Interior, 2003

Graph 17. Structure of condemned aliens in Slovakia in 2002 by country of origin

Source: Internal statistics of the Ministry of Justice, 2003 126

Graph 18. Numbers of applications for granting the status of foreign Slovak from July 1997 to June 2003

Source: Internal documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2003

Graph 19. Gender structure of voluntary returnees from Slovakia in 2002

Source: Internal documents and statistics of International Organisation for Migration-Bratislava, 2003 cover SK qx V 15/1/04 12:25 Page 1

Sharing Experience…

Accession to the EU is expected to bring about changes in migratory routes and destinations, as well as societal changes in the future EU member states. How do new migration trends affect the local societies of these countries? How is the integration of migrants possible in societies marked mostly by emigration throughout the 1990ies? Which approaches do governments envisage in the different countries? Are they becoming countries of immigration – what can be expected after May 2004?

This booklet is part of a product of comprehensive research and analysis of migration trends in each of six participating EU accession countries. olume V – Slovakia

The research project has been supported by the European Commission, V DG Employment and Social Affairs, under the European Social Fund budget Migration Trends line “Analysis of and research on the social situation, demography and the family” and has been managed by IOM Vienna. in Selected Applicant Countries

Under the title “Migration Trends in Selected Applicant Countries”, the following volumes are available:

Volume I – Bulgaria: The Social Impact of Seasonal Migration. Volume II – The Czech Republic: The Times They Are A-Changin. Volume III – Poland: Dilemmas of a Sending and Receiving Country.

Volume IV – Romania: More ‘Out’ than ‘In’ at the Crossroads between Migration Trends Europe and the Balkans. Volume V – Slovakia: An Acceleration of Challenges for Society. Volume VI – Slovenia: The perspective of a Country on the ‘Schengen Periphery’. Volume V – Slovakia The reader may expect comprehensive information on the situation of migrants both, in and out of the countries, and the countries’ migration An Acceleration of Challenges for Society management approaches, with the main purpose to illustrate the impact of migration trends on the local society and the social situation in the country. IOM